Our New Life: The Dead Are Walking
by tvfanatic1994
Summary: Daisy Grimes has had her life turned upside down. Her dad has been shot, and the world is being overrun by zombies. It isn't the world she knows anymore. Settling at the quarry camp, she soon starts to recognise her feelings for dad's best friend, Shane. Life isn't easy anymore, some will die. But can Daisy survive the apocalypse? Please read and review! :)
1. Chapter 1

Hi there, well this story has been plaguing my mind for a while now...it's basically a Shane/OC with the OC being Rick and Lori's daughter. Now I know Shane isn't always everyone's favourite character - I didn't like him once they made him go all psycho, but I did like him before that. There aren't enough stories featuring him so here is one for you all.

Umm...it starts off at the beginning of the series and for now will follow the basics of the plot for now, some things will be different, and I will put in my own spin on things. I'm obviously not going down the Shane is a psycho killer route!

It is just me working on this so if there are any mistakes, which I'm sure there probably will be, then I'm sorry! Also, here is that disclaimer thingy - I don't own any of the plots and characters etc. that are recognisable, etc. etc.!

So thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoy, let me know what you think! Read and review!

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Chapter 1

I was sat in history class, daydreaming about summer vacation, the precious few months before I left home for college, when really I should have been revising for the upcoming finals. I was looking forward to long hot days relaxing with my friends. The idea of hanging out at the mall or getting a tan were enough to distract me from the task at hand. I shook my head and looked back down at the textbook that was open in front of me and I once more attempted to focus on the great depression of the 1930s. I twirled a strand of my wavy blonde hair around my finger and bit on the pen that rested between my teeth.

The classroom door was opened with a bang and all the heads in the room spun to see who had entered the room. Mrs Davis, one of the three middle aged receptionists, quickly shuffled to my history teachers desk and whispered to him. Mr Foster's eyes flicked to me and my stomach dropped. Right then I knew something was wrong.

"Daisy? Your wanted in reception. Take your stuff with you" Mr Foster said, his lips were tight and his eyes were filled with sympathy.

I nodded limply. I felt sick to my stomach – for some, being taken out of class might have been a pretty ordinary thing, something you wouldn't get yourself worried about. But I wasn't the sort who got taken out of class; doctors' appointments were scheduled out of class hours, I didn't get in trouble. You're probably thinking that I was overreacting a bit, making a mountain out of a mole hill as dad would say, but the only time I'd ever been called before had been the day my grandfather died, so forgive me for being a bit apprehensive.

I shoved my books into my bag and slung it onto my shoulder. I straightened out my flowery sun dress and pulled on my denim jacket before hurriedly following Mrs Davis out of the classroom.. I could feel the eyes of the other kids on my back as we left the room. Mrs Davis didn't speak as we walked to the reception, but when we got there she quickly squeezed my hand and beckoned for me to head towards the main entrance. Nervously I walked towards the doors. That's when I saw Shane Walsh, my dad's best friend pacing back and forth just outside the school building. I'd known Shane all my life – he'd been friends with my dad since they were kids. He stuck by my dad and mom when she got pregnant with me in their junior year, and now, nearly eighteen years later, they were just as close. Shane's mom had died a few years back and he didn't really see the rest of his family, so he even tended to spend thanksgiving and Christmas with us.

I flung open the door, he stopped pacing and turned to face me. His top was splattered with blood. I looked into his eyes. My throat seemed to catch as I took in his wild eyed yet solemn expression.

"It's dad isn't it?" I whispered. He just nodded.

My knees buckled and I started to fall towards the concrete, a sob escaping my throat. Shane's arm wrapped around my waist, stopping me from falling. He held me tightly to his side and pulled me to the car. He opened the door to the cruiser and nudged me gently into the seat. He knelt down beside me and brushed the stray tears from my cheeks.

"We were out on a call and there was a shootout" Shane began "your dad…he was shot – passed out in my arms Daisy. We got him to the hospital, he's in surgery now"

I nodded slowly before letting out another sob. Shane wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against him. I sobbed into his chest. When I finally stopped crying, I pulled away and wiped at my face, knowing fine well I'd look a state with mascara smears down my cheeks.

"Is my mom with him?" I whispered.

"Yeah" Shane nodded "she and Carl are there now – she was at his school when I called her, she asked me to come get you"

"Take me to my dad please Shane."

Shane led me through the hospital corridors to the room where my mom and Carl were anxiously waiting to hear how dad's surgery went. Mom was stood at the window, her arms crossed tightly across her chest and biting her lip nervously. Carl was sat on a sofa, his head in his hands. Mom wrapped me in a hug as we walked in and thanked Shane for getting me.

"Have you heard anything?" I asked my mom.

"No, nothing" Mom sighed, running a shaking hand through her hair, "they said he'd be out anytime now but they haven't come…they haven't come!"

"They're just making sure he's ok, Lori" Shane said comfortingly, "Rick will be fine…he has to be."

I sat down next to Carl and he wrapped himself into my side. I stroked my fingers through his hair and wiped a few tears from his face. Shane sat down in the chair opposite me and I gave him a weak smile. We sat around for what felt like forever but I suppose was only a couple of hours or so before anyone came to see us. Eventually a doctor, wearing pale green scrubs and a surgeons cap, came in and told us that the surgery had went well, however my dad was in a coma and they weren't sure when he'd wake up. Mom started crying once more when the doctor told us this and I did too. She held Carl and I to her and sobbed, rocking us against her and repeating over and over that everything would be ok. I had this awful feeling in my stomach that it wouldn't be.

The doctor led us all through to the hospital room where dad was. It was an awful sight. Dad was laying in the bed, hooked up to a bunch of wires. Machines beeped to the rate of his heart and a bunch of over measurements. His face was so pale. I pressed a hand to my mouth to hold back a gasp. Mom sat down beside my dad, tears rolling down her cheeks. She held on to dad's hand, gripping it tightly in her own. I kept expecting him to wake up, to tell me he was fine and that he'd be back on his feet in no time.

We stayed with dad for another couple of hours before a nurse came to tell us that we couldn't all stay with dad overnight.

"I can't leave Rick" Mom told us all, repeating it a few times.

"I'm sorry Mrs Grimes, its hospital policy – you're all welcome to come back in the morning, but only one person can stay overnight I'm afraid" the nurse explained with a sad smile.

Mom glanced between Carl and I and my dad..

"I'll take Daisy and Carl back to my place for the night Lori, and I'll bring them back here in the morning" Shane offered.

"Oh thank you Shane" mom smiled "Rick needs me right now"

"No worries Lori."

I stood up from my chair and walked to dad's side. I leaned over and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

"See you tomorrow Dad, love you" I whispered "please wake up soon"

Shane lived in a small house not far from the police station he and my dad were stationed at. It was pretty plain really, but you could tell it was lived in. When I was little my dad would bring me over to Shane's house with him when he came to watch football games. And even now if I knew Shane had a day off I'd pop over for a coffee and we'd sit and watch a film or catch up on some TV. We'd always been pretty close. He got on well with Carl too, they would often go practice at the batting cages for hours on end.

When we arrived at Shane's house, I settled Carl into the guest room. It was small, the space taken up by the two single beds and the small chest of drawers. The walls were painted a sunshine yellow- I'd picked out the colour when I was nine, when Shane first bought the house. Nearly nine years later the room was still the same.

"Daisy…" Carl murmured as I pulled an old pair of my pyjamas from the drawers.

"Yeah?" I responded.

"Is dad going to be ok?"

I sighed and sat down on the bed beside Carl. He wedged himself into my side and I ran my fingers absentmindedly through his brown hair.

"Dad…dad is the strongest man I know – well I suppose Shane is pretty strong too but you know what I mean. But what I'm trying to say is that dad is tough – if anyone can pull through this, he can" I told Carl "we just have to be strong for him to, he needs us to be"

"I can be strong" Carl nodded.

"Good" I smiled, standing up and pressing a kiss to his forehead, "now, go to sleep".

"Night Daisy"

"Night squirt."

I grabbed my pyjamas and turned out the light. I headed to the bathroom and quickly got changed and brushed my teeth. I padded my way back downstairs and found Shane sitting in the living room, staring up at a picture on the coffee table- my dad and Shane in their uniforms, his arm slung across my dad's shoulder, both of them were grinning. I sat down beside him, cross legged. He turned away from the photo and gave me a small smile.

"How're you feeling?" he asked me, passing me a mug of hot chocolate and a couple of chocolate biscuits.

"Thanks. Umm…tired…and scared I guess – I mean what if he doesn't wake up Shane? He's in a coma for Christ's sake" I sighed.

"He'll wake up Daisy he has to"

"He's my dad, Shane, I love him – I don't know what I'll do…if he dies"

I took a quick drink of my hot chocolate and nibbled at my biscuits for a few minutes.

"How's school going?" Shane asked me. I rolled my eyes.

"School is school" I laughed "finals are coming up so the my teachers are on my ass all the time. I can't wait for the summer! Megan – you know Megan, she was at my birthday party last year – anyway, we're planning a month long road trip"

"Isn't Megan the girl who has a new boyfriend every week?" Shane commented, his eyebrow raised.

"She's not that bad…ok she is that bad! But I swear, she is a lovely person! She's already got a long list of clubs she wants to go to while we're away! She keeps banging on about getting me a guy!" I laughed, rolling my eyes at her antics, "Oh! Don't tell my parents I said that – they'll try and ban the trip!"

"Don't worry your secret is safe with me!" Shane promised.

We were quiet for a few minutes, before I got up and headed to the kitchen to wash up my mug. I ran the hot water and began swilling out my mug. I didn't hear Shane come into the room behind me.

"So…you're planning to find a few guys then? On this road trip of yours" Shane asked.

I let out a small squeal and jumped with the shock. He chuckled at me. I turned to face him, dishcloth in hand.

"Jeez Shane! Don't scare me like that" I admonished before pursing my lips, "But no, it's not my thing…you know the one night stand stuff" I confessed, blushing profusely. Truth be told, I was still a virgin.

"Good" Shane said firmly, flashing me a smile.

I was sure I saw relief flash across his face. I guess he saw himself as a father figure in my life, and was therefore relieved that I didn't plan on putting it about while on my road trip. I suppose when I was small I did look up to Shane as an authority figure, I loved him like he was family. But as I grew up that changed for me. In the last year we'd grew closer. He was like a best friend to me, I could confide in him. He was there for me when I fell out with my friends or when I broke up my boyfriend last month.

"I'm going to head up to bed; I want to be up the hospital early tomorrow"

"Goodnight Daisy"

"Night Shane" I responded, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek as I passed him.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Three weeks had passed and my dad still hadn't woke up. Carl and I were back to school but we still visited him every day. I would bring him flowers to make the room look less cold and unfriendly – when dad woke up I wanted him to see that we made an effort for him when he wasn't awake. I'd sit and talk to him, telling him about my day or what I was planning to concoct for dinner that night. Mom sat with dad most of the day, holding his hand, crying, even apologising for their recent arguing. On the nights mom didn't come home from the hospital I'd either take Carl home and look after him or we'd stay at Shane's. He'd really been there for us those past weeks; he made sure that we had food in the house and generally making sure we were ok.

Things were strange though, for the past two weeks the news channels were all talking about a mysterious disease that was killing people all over the world – a fever that was killing people. That was bad enough but then came the reports of the dead coming back to life. Yes you heard me right the dead were literally waking back up. The centre for disease control in Atlanta kept broadcasting, telling us they had scientists working night and day to figure this thing out. But the reports of zombies became more and more frequent. There were talks of possible evacuations.

I was sat in the living room, in my pyjamas watching some soap opera with Carl, barely paying attention when Shane burst in the door. He had a wild look on his face. He was still in uniform but looked somewhat dishevelled. Immediately I got to my feet. Mom walked into the room from the kitchen. She'd been making lasagne to keep herself busy.

"What's wrong Shane? Is it Rick?" Mom asked nervously.

"We've got to leave Lori. It's not safe anymore, we need to get to into Atlanta – they say the army is barricading the city against the walkers, setting up refugee camps, we need to go _now_!" Shane explained rapidly.

"We can't leave my dad!" I snapped "we're staying here till he gets better!"

Shane turned to look at me, pure sadness enveloping his face. I dreaded his next words.

"I've been to the hospital already, the army were there _shooting living people_, Daisy! I tried to get your dad out but he wasn't breathing, I checked…I checked and he wasn't breathing. I put a gurney in front of the door and got the hell out of there before I got shot!"

I sunk down onto the sofa. My dad was dead. I'd never see him again. I felt tears slipping down my cheeks. A fat drop rolled and splattered onto my hand. How could this happen? He'd been fine last night…and now he was dead.

"He can't be dead" Mom mumbled, shaking her head.

"He is Lori, I swear, I did everything I could. He'd want you to get to safety – he'd want you all to be safe! Rick would want me to help you, so that's what I'm going to do. Go get a bag and get packing –only the necessities"

"My dad isn't dead, my dad…he's my dad and I can't just leave him here!" I yelled, my vision blurry from the tears.

I pushed my way past Shane and my mom, storming up the stairs and collapsing onto my bed. I curled up on my side, hugging my knees to my chest as I wept. There was no way I was leaving my dad's body in a hospital where soldiers were killing people and the dead were walking. He deserved better than that. A few minutes later there was soft knock on my door. I turned my head to the side to see Shane standing in the doorway to my bedroom. He had his hands stuffed in his pockets. He crossed the room and sat down beside me on the bed. I didn't uncurl from the position I was in.

"I can't leave him here Shane…it's not right" I whispered.

"No" Shane admitted "it's not right….but none of what's happening in the world right now is right Daisy – it's all about surviving now and the only way I know to keep you, your mom and Carl safe is to take you away from here"

"Is it really that bad out there?"

Shane sighed and nodded, reaching to turn on my TV. He flicked on the news channel, it was showing a video of cars lining the highway – some were fleeing the cities while others were fleeing into the cities. The scene changed, this time it was showing a group of people. But there was something very off with them. They had strange skin, parts of it seemed to be falling off. Their eyes were all gooey and filmy and they walked with this strange gait. And well they were eating a human being. I felt bile rise in my throat, I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand.

"We've got to go haven't we?" I murmured sadly.

"It's what your dad would have wanted" Shane responded "your mom's already packing downstairs"

I stood up, knelt on the floor and pulled out my suitcase and rucksack from under the bed. I heaved them onto the bed. Shane opened my wardrobe and began pulling jumpers, t-shirts, jeans, and what have you out. He piled it all into my suitcase. I dumped a pile of bras, socks and underwear into the suitcase. I blushed as Shane raised his eyebrow at one of the lacy red sets. I turned away so I wouldn't have to look him in the eye. I threw in some trainers and my hiking boots that dad had bought me last summer but I'd never actually worn yet. I filled the rucksack with toiletries, a couple of books and my photo album . There was no way I was leaving that behind.

"You got everything?" Shane asked me.

"Yeah, I think so" I replied, zipping up my suitcase and rucksack, "let me get changed and then I'm good to go"

"I'll go check on Lori and Carl."

Shane picked up my case and carried it out of the room, shutting the door behind him. I quickly changed into some leggings and a grey vest. I pulled on my denim jacket and my black biker boots. I fastened my hair up in a high pony tail. I lifted my rucksack onto my shoulder and headed to the door.

Before I left, I took one last look at my room; I had a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that I wouldn't see my room again. Behind my bedroom door was a chart mapping my height from the day we moved into this house, when I was five years old, up till my eleventh birthday when I decided I was too old to have a height chart. On the windowsill was the snow globe with the statue of liberty inside that Megan had brought back for me when she went to New York last year. There were so many memories in this room that I really didn't want to leave behind. Unfortunately, I really didn't have much of a choice in the matter. With a roll of my eyes I grabbed pink rabbit teddy off the bed and stuffed it into my backpack. Dad had brought it to the hospital for me on the day I was born. I couldn't leave without it, especially not now he was dead.

When I got downstairs, mom, Carl and Shane were all waiting for me in the living room. I noticed that mom had taken the photos out of their frames on the mantelpiece. She gave me a small smile before handing me a bag of food to carry. We left the house and piled into Shane's jeep. The boot was full with three small suitcases, a couple of Shane's rucksacks, a couple of tents and some bags of food. He had some guns back there and a police radio too, I guess he took them from the station.

Mom turned on the radio as Shane drove but she struggled to pick up a signal. Every station she tried was just muffled static. The only thing we heard was something about Atlanta but we lost the signal again before we could understand what it was saying.

After about four hours of driving we reached the highway which led into Atlanta, we couldn't get close as it was full of traffic at a standstill. The cars were piled high, with roof boxes overflowing. The radio picked up a signal suddenly, a crackling voice telling us that Atlanta had been overrun and to not enter the city. There was a rumbling noise in the distance. People started climbing out of their cars to see what was going on. Mom, Shane and I all started to get out of the jeep. I glanced around. Up above us was a helicopter, it flew over Atlanta dropping things from a hatch underneath. It took me a moment to realise they were bombs. A big cloud of flames whooshed up from Atlanta itself, followed by more explosions.

"Oh my god" I gasped.

Shane reached for me, wrapping me in his strong arms. He held me tightly against him. I watched as Atlanta burned. To me, it looked like the world was ending right before my eyes. Standing next to the car beside us were a family. A women with cropped salt and pepper hair and kind looking eyes, a scary looking man and a sweet little girl with blonde hair in bunches. There were other people near to us too. Shane let go of me, squeezed my hand comfortingly before turning around and speaking to the surrounding people.

"Atlanta isn't safe anymore, hell, this country isn't safe anymore. There are these things, these walkers trying to kill us, and the army can't do jack to stop it! We need to go somewhere where we can protect ourselves and each other" Shane called out, addressing the small crowd who had gathered around him, "now I know of a quarry not far from here, I'm going to head there now, any of you who want to come with us, are welcome"

Shane got back in the car and mom and I followed suit. Carl looked pretty scared, I smiled encouragingly at him. Shane started up the car and began driving towards the quarry he spoke of. I glanced out of the back window to see a few of the cars from the highway following us, an RV. While we drove, Shane explained that the quarry would keep us high enough up to see what was going on around us, but far enough away from the city to be that bit safer.

It didn't take us too long to reach the aforementioned quarry area. Shane parked up on some grass land that led to some woods and a creek. We all clambered out of the cars and glanced awkwardly around at each other. I slung an arm over Carl's shoulder as we listened to Shane explaining that for now we were better off sticking together and looking out for one another till the government and the army got their asses together and sorted this mess out.

We all began sorting our stuff out. Cars were parked at the side of the dirt track that led back to the highway, and tents were being popped up around us. Shane chucked me a tent to set up for mom, Carl and I. I looked at the label and raised an eyebrow, it was a two man tent. It was going to be a hell of a squeeze for three of us. Lucky Shane had a tent to himself. Once Carl and I had set the tent up, I peered inside it, barely enough head room if I was sat on the floor, and it was very, very small indeed. I ran a hand through my hair and pursed my lips.

"You need another tent?" a voice said from before me.

I spun around to face a muscled man with a kind smile and a tent bag in his hand. I smiled up at him.

"That would be amazing if you've got one to spare" I grinned before sticking out my hand to shake his, "I'm Daisy Grimes, and this is my brother Carl".

"T-Dog" he replied, shaking my hand, "sure I packed a spare one just in case anyone needed it"

"Well if you wouldn't mind then that would be fantastic, I really didn't want to share with my mom and my brother!" I laughed.

"Nah, looks like that would be a bit of a squeeze for the three of you" he grinned.

He handed over the tent and I began setting it up in the space between mom and Carl's tent and T-Dog's. I would have pitched myself next to Shane's but there was already tents on either side of him. Once my tent was up I rolled out my sleeping bag that Shane had given me and made the tent a little bit more homely.

I dumped my rucksack then crawled out of the tent. I got to my feet and dusted off my jeans. I looked around our camp. Shane was setting up a cooking area in the centre of the tent area, creating a camp fire. T-Dog was helping a family set up their tent. Everyone else was milling about, getting themselves sorted. I sighed. Well, I guess if we were going to be here for a while I'd better get to know these people. Plastering a smile onto my face, I headed across the camp to speak to the two young women and the old man with the RV.


	3. Chapter 3

So here is chapter 3, I hope you all like it. I want to say thank you to Amber and to TS-19 for reviewing, it made my day, I'm glad you are both enjoying the story. I'd also like to thank those of you who added this fic to their favourites/follows. So please let me know what you think by reviewing :) thanks very much!

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"Stop it Shane! Shane! Aaahhh Shane!" I laughed as he tried to dunk me under the water.

Shane grinned at me, walking further into the creek after me. I waded backwards, laughing as the water sloshing around me. It was a ridiculously hot day in camp and I'd headed down to the creek to cool off for a while. Plus, I was getting bored of doing the chores with Andrea, Amy, Jacqui, Carol and my mom. After a month of helping out and being nagged at by my mother I figured I was entitled to a day off !I hadn't realised that Shane was down here too till I saw him in the water, topless. Now I may have known the man all my life but I had to admit he did look pretty hot. I know I'm not supposed to think that, but well I do and that's just the way it is. I slapped some water at him and laughed some more.

"Hey now you started it Daisy" Shane smirked, pouncing forward and grabbing me.

He slipped his arm under my legs and the other under my arms and threw me down into the water. His arms clapped down onto my shoulders and he dunked me under the water. I thrashed under the water playfully, knowing he'd let me back up. His hands moved under my arms and he pulled me back up to the surface. I glared at him as I peeled away my soaked hair from my face.

"You know, Shane, you are a very mean guy!" I admonished, hands on my hips.

Shane grinned at me. I felt butterflies in my stomach. Oh god, why was I feeling butterflies at the sight of Shane? Ok yes, he was an attractive man. And of course he was a good man too, he was strong and brave He protected me and I felt safe around him. But he was Shane.

I shook my head and took a step back from him, I hadn't realised we'd been standing so close. I grabbed his arm and pulled him towards dry land. Once my feet touched the grass I began pulling on my shorts and vest over the top of my bikini. You may be wondering where I got this bikini from, I mean I didn't pack one when Shane had made us run. Well things have changed in the world now, there aren't many of us left and as you know there are walkers anywhere. And while we have a relatively safe camp up here we haven't got everything we need – we have only so much food and supplies. So small groups have been going into Atlanta on runs to find what we need. Andrea had went on the last trip and picked us all up some swimwear so we wouldn't have to wash in the creek in our underwear anymore.

Once I'd got my clothes back on I slipped my feet into my trainers and turned to face Shane. He was fully dressed now too and adjusting his weapons belt. It was equipped with two guns and a knife. He was always armed, just in case walkers got into camp. He'd told me that he'd had to put down a few of the walkers when on watch duty and I know Daryl and Merle had done their own fair share of walker extermination too. I'd spoke to the Dixon brothers a few times around the camp at meal times and the like but they tended to keep to themselves. Daryl seemed pretty cool but Merle seemed to be a bit of a funny one – he kept trying it on with Andrea and some of the other women, it was a bit creepy really when they knocked him back on more than one occasion.

I sat down on the grass bank, my legs stretched out in front of me. I was quite proud, I'd picked up a bit of a tan while staying here in the quarry camp. Shane sat himself down beside me.

"You alright?" Shane asked.

"Sure" I nodded "it's just still so surreal you know, right now I should be finished my finals and enjoying my summer with my friends. But instead I'm living in a tent next to a quarry with a bunch of strangers, and my friends, well they'd rather bite a chunk out of me than go to the mall, you know? It's all just so insane!"

"The world's changed, Daisy, and well, it ain't going go back to how it was before for a long while"

"I know….hey do you reckon I'll be able to go on the run into the city?"

Andrea, Jacqui, T-Dog, Glenn, Merle and Morales were leaving camp for a run at noon. I hadn't been allowed on the other two runs so I really wanted to go on this one. Amy thought I was insane wanting to go into Atlanta when I could stay relatively safe here in camp with the other women – doing the washing or cooking the food. Now I didn't mind pulling my weight in camp but well, that just wasn't my thing.

"No, no way Daisy!" Shane snapped.

"Jeez Shane you're not my…I mean…you're not in charge of me. I'm practically an adult – I'll be eighteen in two weeks!"

"It's not safe out there, Daisy! I don't want to risk you getting hurt!"

"Please Shane! I'll be with the others, they'll keep me safe! I'll never learn to defend myself against walkers if I don't get some proper experience!"

"Atlanta is teeming with walkers, that won't give you experience, it'll just get you killed".

I sighed and shifted around to face him.

"Ok, let's compromise, I'll stay here on this run, like you and mom want me to…but next time I get to go" I brokered, sticking out my hand and wiggling my fingers, "deal?"

"Fine, deal" Shane relented, he rolled his eyes and shook my hand..

I let out a peel of laughter and bounced to my feet. I wrapped my hand round Shane's lower arm and dragged him up.

"Back to camp officer!" I giggled "I want to say bye to the others before they go"

It was only a short walk back to camp, we chatted a bit on the way, well I had a bit of a whinge about mom. She was always on my case at the moment, never letting me be my own person. She wanted me to be in her sight all the time; she was constantly telling not to wander off. Now I get that she just wanted to protect me, I know she was scared that I'd get bit, but really, I was nearly eighteen, I needed some sort of freedom. Shane slung an arm around my shoulder and squeezed comfortingly.

"Your mom is a good woman, Daisy, she's just protective of you, she's already lost her husband, you and Carl are all she has left. Just give her time ok?" Shane imparted.

"I know…but I'm not a kid anymore, Shane. She needs to know that I'm old enough to make my own choices"

"She knows that, she's just having a tough time of it right now"

"Ok, ok don't guilt trip me Shane! I'll try harder with her"

"Good"

We walked into camp, Shane's arm still over my shoulder. The group going on the run were getting ready to leave. I slipped out from under Shane's arm and bounded over. I wrapped my arms and round Glenn and then T-Dog. I'd grown quite close to them – and Amy – since we'd set up here. They were easy to talk to, and weren't that much older than me and they didn't think they could boss me around.

"I want both of you to be careful ok? I want you back in one piece, you hear me?" I informed them.

"Yes, Daisy, we promise" Glenn agreed with a grin.

They turned and climbed into the van that they were taking into Atlanta.

"Bring me back a present you jerks" I called as I backed away from the cars.

"Wash my clothes and I'll think about it" T-Dog yelled back out the window of the car.

I laughed and spun around on my heel to face the remaining members of the group who were sat around camp. I saw mom and Shane walking off into the woods. It looked a little suspicious. Biting my lip, I slipped out of camp after them, picking up one of Shane's knives just in case. I followed them before a few minutes before they stopped in a small clearing. I hid behind a tree. Mom started hissing at Shane, I couldn't understand what she was saying to him. He was talking back just as quietly. However, she was waving her arms around hysterically and aggressively jabbing her finger at him. Shane was clearly trying to pacify her. He rested his hand on her arm and she sighed before nodding. He hugged her.

Were they sleeping together? I backed away slowly before turning and walking out of the forest. How could they be doing this? Mom had only just lost her husband and Shane was dad's best friend. Ok, they were indeed important concerns for me. But I have to admit there was this sick feeling inside me that, well, felt betrayed by Shane. I guess I was jealous. It shocked me, but I knew it was true, I felt jealous and betrayed. I shouldn't but that was the truth of the matter.

I didn't go straight back to camp, I wandered back towards the creek. I stormed through the grass angrily. Ok I guess I was overreacting, they were both adults, they were entitled to do what they wanted to. I was being silly, childish and jealous. I needed to get a hold of myself.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid" I hissed at myself.

I carried on walking through the trees till I reached the creek. I stood at the side of the water and picked up a bunch of stones. I began launching the stones at the water aggressively – I might have looked an idiot but it was beer than hurling stones at my mom and Shane. I threw my last stone and flumped down onto the floor.

I sat for a little while just thinking. But then from behind me I heard shuffling and groaning. My heart lurched in my chest. I jumped to my feet and whirled around. Three walkers were stumbling through the trees. They were between me and camp. With shaking hands I pulled out Shane's knife. As the first walker lunged at me, I slashed out with the knife. I knew you had to aim for the head but I wasn't all that tall and I hadn't been taught how to kill these things properly.

I lashed out again this time making contact with its skull. I wedged the knife in as far as it would go and jimmied it about a bit. The walker dropped to the floor and I stamped on its head for good measure. Blood and bits of brain seeped out onto the floor. The other two had got close to me while I'd been getting rid of the first one. As I swung the knife towards one of the remaining walkers the other grabbed a hold of the side of my top. I screamed as it came at me, its teeth gnashing at me. I screamed again before dropping to the floor and rolling out from underneath their legs. I stood back up and aimed my knife at the head of the nearest walker. Once more, this walker fell to the floor. As I bent to pull the knife out of the head, the other walker knocked me to the floor. As its teeth snapped at me, I pushed at its shoulders, trying to keep it at bay.

"Urgh this just isn't my day" I hissed as I continued to hold it back.

Just before its teeth could clamp down on me the walkers blood splattered all over me, an arrowhead poked out through its eye. I gasped and pushed the body off of me. Shaking, I pushed myself up into a sitting position. At the top of the bank Daryl was stood with his crossbow in hand. Carl and mom were stood beside him . Mom looked like she was crying. Halfway down the bank and racing towards me was Shane. He sunk to the ground beside me. I dropped the knife to the ground, I hadn't realised I was still gripping it so tightly

"Are you ok? What the hell were you doing down here on your own?" Shane asked me, wrapping me in a hug.

Although I was still mad at him, I hugged him back. My heart was still pounding in my chest and I was shaking all over. He pulled away and looked directly at me.

"I…I'm ok, Shane" I confirmed with a small nod "I'm ok"

"You scared me"

"Sorry, Shane. I didn't realise…I mean, I just wanted to be on my own, I didn't think" I babbled "they just came out of the woods, I didn't see them, god Shane, I thought I was going to die!"

Shane wrapped his arms around me once more and held me tightly to his body. He rested his chin on the top of my forehead. Mum suddenly appeared, she grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet before hugging me to her.

"Oh honey I thought I'd lost you" mom whispered into my hair "don't ever do that again"

"Sorry mom" I sighed.

I shrugged her off and headed up the bank. I heard mom and Shane talking about me as I walked away, mom was wittering about how something was wrong with me, how I wasn't my "usual self". When I got to the top of the bank I quickly gave Daryl a hug.

"Thank you, Daryl" I said "you saved my life there"

Daryl blushed a little and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. He muttered a quick "you're welcome" before slouching off back into the woods. I gave Carl a quick smile before heading straight back to camp. Inside my tent, I changed into a fresh pair of shorts and a blue vest. I reached for the my last few remaining wipes and quickly cleaned the disgusting walker blood off my face, neck and arms. I sighed, what was my life coming to? Wiping guts and blood with wipes in a cramped tent.

I was only alone in the tent for a few minutes before Shane crawled in. I'd ended up with the smallest tent but I was just happy I had a tent of my own. Shane sat down beside me. I didn't look at him, just sat staring at my grubby nails.

"You gonna tell me what's wrong?" he asked me.

"Nothing is wrong Shane, I'm fine"

"Well I ain't stupid enough to believe that"

"No but your stupid enough to go sleeping with my mom!" I hissed at him.

I bit my lip, I hadn't been planning to bring that up yet. Shane let out a peel of laughter. My head snapped up to glare at him.

"You think it's funny, Shane? My dad just died last month for Christ's sake! You…this….it's wrong Shane!"

"Look I don't know where you getting this idea from, Daisy, but I swear me and your mom are not sleeping together!"

"Don't lie to me Shane! I saw you and mom in the woods!"

Shane looked down at the floor and sighed.

"You obviously didn't hear what we were saying then?" Shane replied with a raise of an eyebrow.

"Well…no…I didn't want to get to close…I didn't want you both to see me" I admitted.

"Your mom was upset, I reassured her and that was it, honestly"

I glanced up at him, I was pretty sure he was telling me the truth. I felt bad, obviously I'd jumped to the wrong conclusion when I'd seen them earlier. However even with that guilt, I admit I felt relieved and a little happy too.

"Sorry, I guess I got the wrong end of the stick" I apologised.

"Don't worry about it" Shane smiled "hey, why were you even watching us in the woods anyway?"

"Um…well…um…you know me, I've got a curious and suspicious mind" I laughed, trying to fight off the blush threatening to seep onto my face. I didn't want to admit that I'd followed him and mom because I'd felt jealousy in the pit of my stomach.

I think Shane knew I'd lied to him, this look of disappointment flashed across his face but vanished moments later, quickly replaced by a lazy smile. I smiled back at him before laying back onto my sleeping bag. He lay down beside me, his head resting on his arms. We chatted for a while, talking about our favourite films even though we knew we would probably never see a film again. It was so easy to just talk to him, to be near him and laugh and remember that even though the world was crap right now some things were still ok.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey there guys! :) so I've got chapter 4 here for you to have a read of! I know the chapter isn't the longest in the world but I felt it had to end where it did. I'm hoping to update again tomorrow. Thank you to those of you who have reviewed and followed this story!

TS-19 - God I know! Yeah I did that too, I used to look at him and wonder if he was really an attractive man, but yeah he does have a sex appeal about him! I quite like his voice too, it has a rather sexy edge to it! Yeah I have to say that would be my attitude too, to hell with age!

Please let me know what you think! Review, review, review guys! :D

Have a lovely day!

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Chapter 4

We were all busy around the camp, I'd spent an hour or so washing T-Dog's clothes with Amy, holding my end of the present bargain. Suddenly, the police radio started buzzing and a muffled, crackly voice rang out. Amy was the first to reach the radio, she tried to speak to the man on the other end. I was on top of the roof of the RV, sitting with Dale while he was on watch. I peeked my head over to see what was going on. Shane was trying to get the radio to work – it didn't seem to be working very well.

"Is it ok if I go down there, Dale?" I asked him.

"Sure, Daisy, just come back up and let me know what's going on!" Dale smiled.

"No problem, Dale, back in a few!"

I climbed down the ladder and hopped to the floor. I crossed the camp to where the others were gathered. It turned out that there was a man who was heading down highway 85 towards Atlanta. Obviously, we knew Atlanta was full of walkers, and the idea of a refugee centre was exactly that, and idea and not a reality. Atlanta wasn't safe if you didn't know what you were walking in to. Shane tried to get in touch but failed.

"Damn" I sighed "poor souls going to walk right into that hell"

"We should have put signs up on the highway" Mom told Shane.

"We haven't had the time, Lori" Shane bit back "I've been a bit busy making sure we're surviving, or hadn't you noticed"

"Give me a vehicle and I'll put signs on the highway!" mom glared.

"Ok, you two" I snapped, stepping between them, "can you stop acting like freaking two year olds? Shane – it's a good idea to put signs on the highway, we should make time to do that. Mom – don't be silly, you can't go to the highway on your own, but I'm sure someone would be happy to go with you soon"

I must have shocked them because the whole camp seemed to be stunned into silence. I glared at them until they sighed and nodded. Mom went back to folding clothes that she'd been drying for the rest of the camp and Shane went back to cleaning his gun. I quickly jogged back over to the RV and clambered back up onto its roof. I sat down cross legged on the roof next to Dale. He had his binoculars held up to his face and he surveyed the camp. He passed me a book from beside him and smiled as I took it from him.

"What's this?" I asked.

"A crime thriller – I thought it'd keep you occupied. I know it can be pretty boring here"

"Thanks, Dale!" I grinned "I didn't get chance to pack many books before Shane brought us here and I've read them all before. I'll make sure to take my time with this one – I'll savour each chapter!"

"You just enjoy it, Daisy. This world may be changing like nobody's business but literature and words, we need to remember them, even when we feel it's unimportant"

"That's pretty profound, Dale. You know, you're a really great man, I'm glad that I met you here…you're like an extra granddad or something"

Dale chuckled and turned back to survey the camp.

I sat with Dale for a couple of hours, reading the book he had lent me. As the afternoon became early evening, Shane rotated watch shifts with Dale. I said goodbye to Dale before he climbed down the steps and headed inside the RV. Shane sat down on the roof beside me.

"Thought you might want this" Shane murmured, handing me a tartan blanket, "it's getting pretty chilly out and you've been up here for hours"

"Thanks. I guess I lost track of time; Dale gave me this book to read, it's pretty good"

"You and your books" Shane chuckled.

"Hey!" I mumbled, swatting his arm playfully, "you make out like I'm a nerd!"

"You are" he grinned.

"Bully" I mock glared.

I sat reading, well trying to read, but I couldn't really concentrate. I was starting to worry a little about the others in Atlanta. I'd expected them to have been back by now. They'd taken a radio with them so I suppose if they'd got into any serious trouble they would have let us know. Well, other than if they didn't have time to radio us before trouble hit. _Stop being so morbid, _I chastised myself, _they'll be fine. _I folded the corner of the page slightly – wishing I had a bookmark as I always hated creasing the pages of a book – and closed it.

"Do you miss my dad, Shane?" I asked as I took a drink from a flask of water I'd brought up here earlier.

Shane gave me a sideways glance and sighed. He wasn't always so good at the emotional stuff but I wanted to talk about dad. Every time I brought the subject of ad up with mom she either sighed at me and walked away, told me she didn't want to talk about it or started crying. I didn't really want to cry, I wanted to remember the good times, but at the same time I still needed to grieve.

"Of course I do, know the man my whole life! There ain't a day goes by when I don't wish he was here with us" Shane informed me.

"I feel like I'm going crazy without him…I mean he's always been there for me, he would teach me things and talk to me about all sorts of crap, you know? It's like there is a big gaping hole in my life now"

We were quiet for a few minutes, both of us thinking about my dad. I was picturing the day before my dad did was shot. He and my mom weren't talking which had seemed to be the phase they had been going through for some time. So to cheer me and Carl up he took us out for the day, Shane tagged along too. We went to a football game – which honestly I wasn't bothered for but they enjoyed – and then for dinner after. It had been a great day. I liked to think of days like that when thinking about dad.

"He'd be a hell of a lot better at this leader thing. He'd know how to look out for everyone – to keep you all in food and water, and in one piece…I don't know what I'm doing" Shane admitted.

"Don't be silly, Shane, you're doing a great job! Look at us, we're all surviving here because of you" I told him fiercely, "you've dealt with everything that this…apocalypse has thrown at you and you've helped this group deal with it too. You've helped me through this Shane, I need you here with me, you're my rock"

I blushed a little after I finished my speech. He was looking at me funny, like he got this strange look in his eyes.

"You mean that?" he whispered.

"I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it Shane, you've made all this bearable…"

I trailed off as he tucked a strand of blonde hair behind my ear. I glanced at him. His hand trailed down my cheek, and then he placed it on my shoulder. I gulped as he leaned in closer to me. I closed my eyes as his lips pressed softly to mine. My heart was beating a million times faster than it should have been. One hand slipped into my hair the other crept round my waist. I shifted closer to him, my hands running up his toned chest. He bit my lip gently and I moaned softly. He deepened the kiss, his hands tightening on my hips. Butterflies were swirling in my stomach.

Suddenly, the sound of a powerful car, echoed through the quarry, followed by a loud car alarm. I leaned away from Shane and looked out across the quarry. A red sports car was whizzing towards camp and further back was our van. I grinned at Shane.

"They're back" I squealed.

I jumped to my feet, pulling Shane up with me. I quickly pressed a kiss to his lips and giggled like a little kid. I carefully climbed down the ladder before running over to Glenn who was standing proudly next to amazing red sports car. He'd managed to disable the alarm somehow. I dashed over and hugged him tightly.

"Where did you get this beauty from?" I asked him, running my hand across it.

"We needed a distraction and this fitted the bill" Glenn grinned.

"We should be able to get some parts to fit the RV and some of the other vehicles off this" Dale suggested.

"Oh no! We can't do that! It's so pretty!" I shrieked, turning to face Dale, "Please can we keep it Dale…pleeeeease!"

"Pleeeeease Dale!" Glenn begged.

"Oh stop with the puppy dog eyes you two, I'll think about it" Dale compromised.

"Yay!" I cheered.

I bounced across to Dale and hugged him before returning to the sports car. Shane was standing beside it now, his body close to mine. I glanced up at him but he was looking out at the approaching van that held the others. His hand however was discreetly resting on the small of my back. Even that small amount of contact was making my belly fizz.

"Everyone make it ok?" Shane asked Glenn.

"Yeah, got a new man too, saved our asses in Atlanta" Glenn praised.

"I'll be back in a minute ok, I'm going to grab a jumper" I told Shane before slipping away to my tent.

I crawled inside and ransacked my bag until I found my grey jumper. I took off my vest and replaced it with the jumper. Unfortunately catching it on my bobble. I sighed and unravelled myself before redoing my hair, this time piling it into a bun. I crawled back out – I wanted to go see T-Dog, to see if he'd held up his end of the deal and brought me back a present. When I stood up and looked back to the others my breath caught in my throat. Standing there with mom and Carl hugging him, was my dad.

"Dad" I murmured, my knees shaking, this time I spoke up louder, "dad"

Dad looked up and saw me. I tried to move towards him but I seemed to be frozen to the spot. Mom and Carl let go of him and he quickly crossed across the camp to stand in front of me. His arms wrapped around me and I held him to me. I started sobbing, I couldn't help it. My dad was here, alive, standing right in front of me. Dad stroked my hair and sighed.

"Oh dad we thought you were dead!" I cried "I thought I'd lost you forever"

"Don't worry, Daisy, everything is ok now."  
Mom joined us, pulling Carl along with us, she wrapped us all in a big hug. My family was back together. When we all stepped apart, dad spotted Shane. Shane's face was lit up, so obviously happy that my dad was back. He quickly pulled my dad into one of those manly yet loving hugs.

"Hey man" dad grinned "it's good to see ya"

Mom, dad and Carl sat down round the communal area of camp, talking happily between themselves Part of me wanted to go and sit with them, but I had to speak to Shane first. I quickly grabbed his hand and dragged him into the woods. I stopped once we were out of earshot of the camp. I whirled around to face him.

"You said my dad was dead" I murmured quietly "did you make that up? Because, well, my dad is obviously alive"

Shane sighed.

"I told you the truth, Daisy, I checked your dad and he wasn't breathing – if he had been I would have done all I could to save him"

I watched him as he spoke and I knew he was telling the truth. I nodded my understanding.

"Ok, I believe you" I told him.

Shane smiled at me, stepping forward. I knew he was going to kiss me again and, well, I wasn't going to stop him. His lips pressed to mine, almost possessively. That actually made the kiss even better, like, I wanted to be his. He moved us back so I was pressed roughly against a tree. My arms looped around his neck as he deepened the kiss. His hand slowly snaked up beneath my top, his fingers ghosting across my stomach. I moaned slightly as he brushed his hand across my bra. I arched against him, groaning slightly.

"Oh god" I whispered.

Shane chuckled quietly, continuing his ministrations which were slowly sending me insane.

"What exactly is going on here?" a voice called out, my dad's voice.

I sprang away from Shane, pulling my top back into place and blushing bright red. Dad looked pretty mad.

"Oh crap" I said.


	5. Chapter 5

Hey guys! I apologise for this being a couple of days later than I said I'd post but I've got deadlines for assignments for uni so I've had to focus on those - unfortunately still not done! But thank you all for your continued support - your reviews and favourites etc. keep me motivated! Sooooo...here we go! Let's see what Rick has to say!

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Chapter 5

"Umm…hi dad" I said, rocking back and forth on my heels nervously.

"I said what's going on. Daisy? Shane?" Dad replied, his voice was too controlled, like he was trying to stop himself from really going off it.

"Well, dad you see…well…the thing is…" I tried to explain but I was interrupted by Shane.

"Daisy, you go back to camp, I need to talk to your dad" Shane sighed, squeezing my hand encouragingly.

I pursed my lips and nodded. I headed back towards camp. I didn't want to leave dad and Shane back there. I wanted to know what they were saying - I didn't want dad to kill Shane! I sighed before looping back around and watching the two of them from a distance. I didn't make the same mistake as the last time I eavesdropped on a conversation, I made sure I could hear what they were saying to each other.

"She's my daughter, Shane! And you were all over her! Don't think I didn't see your hand up her shirt!"

"Don't you think I know that? God Rick I've known the girl since she was in diapers!"

"How long has this been going on? She's not even eighteen yet!"

"We only kissed today I swear! You know I wouldn't want this if I had a choice about how I feel but I don't! But, Rick, you've got to understand how I feel about her man! Besides, it's her birthday in less than two weeks! This last year things have changed, my feelings for her have changed…she's amazing Rick"

Dad sighed and ran a hand through his hair, pacing back and forth. I had weird butterflies fluttering in my belly as Shane spoke about me.

"This can't be like the girls you've been with before, Shane. I can't let you use her like that, don't forget that I know your record with women"

"I know, Rick, I know. She's different, I swear…I really like her Rick"

"You better not hurt her" Dad warned.

"Do you really think I would? She's important to me, she always has been, even before all this I'd have done everything to do to keep her safe"

Dad nodded and sighed before heading off back to camp. He suddenly stopped and whirled back round to face Shane.

"And I don't want any more of that….business going on where I can see it" Dad ordered, he turned away again and walked back to camp.

"You can come out now, Daisy, I know you're there" Shane called out.

_I should have known, _ I thought to myself, _the man is a cop for Christ's sake!_ I stepped out from behind the tree and walked slowly up to Shane. He had a smirk on his face, I have to admit he looked pretty hot ok I guess he always looked pretty hot.

"What are you so happy about, Officer?" I asked.

"Well, your dad didn't kill me" Shane grinned

"That's always a positive" I laughed.

"And you're here"

"That's true…and I'd love to stay here and well, you know…but I think my dad would definitely kill us then!"

Shane pressed his lips to mine, his hand skimming across the skin at the top of my shorts before sliding down to grip my butt. I let out a slight squeal before quickly returning the kiss.

"You know" Shane murmured against my mouth, "I think it would be worth it"

I laughed before dancing away from Shane in the direction of camp.

"Come on, before they get worried and come looking for us"

Shane and I walked back me to camp, just as the tents came into view, he reached for my hand and held it in his own. I glanced down at our entwined hands, something about them just felt right to me. He noticed that I was looking and he smiled at me. As we walked back into camp I saw that dad and Daryl were squaring off against each other, with T-Dog and Glenn backing my dad up

"You left my brother handcuffed to a roof?" Daryl shouted.

"He was a danger to others" Dad tried to explain.

"I locked the door, no walkers could get to him" T-Dog told Daryl.

"Show me the building, I'll go back for him" Daryl spat.

"Look, I'll go with you, we'll get your brother"

Mom stormed over to where dad was standing, her hands on her hips.

"Are you really going to go risk your life for_ Merle Dixon_!" Mom hissed "we've just got you back and you're going to leave us again?"

"I left a whole bag full of guns from the station, we could defend ourselves with those guns! We need them"

He pulled my mom aside and they muttered to each other. I saw mom's shoulders sag in defeat and she nodded before hugging my dad. Dad began getting a group together to go into Atlanta in the morning. Daryl obviously wanted to go, and Glenn and T-Dog agreed to go too. I wanted to go too but dad, Shane and Rick opposed me. I tried to argue with them but it was three against one so there wasn't much I could really do about it. However I did make them promise that they'd train me to be tougher. You would have thought that with dad and Shane being cops they would have trained me to use a gun, but no, they'd always told me that I didn't need to know how, not with them around. But now, I'd made them promise that as soon as possible they'd teach me how to shoot properly.

As night drew in we all sat round the small campfire – we couldn't have big ones that would keep us warm as we didn't want to attract walkers to the camp. I was sat with Amy, T-Dog and Glenn, eating our dinner – which was some sort of meat, squirrel I think, that Daryl had caught. Glenn and T-Dog had given me the bits they had picked up for me in Atlant. They'd picked me up a new pair of pyjamas, some deodorant…and some nail polish; I hadn't painted my nails since before dad was shot so I was looking forward to pampering myself a little bit. They'd also picked up a whole load of camping gear for us too, even a tent so that Carl wouldn't have to share with my mom. They were teasing me about Shane. Gossip cold spread round the camp like wildfire.

"Ok you guys, you can stop bullying me now!" I laughed.

"Oh were just teasing you, Daisy! He's cute, we're happy for you" Amy smiled.

"Well he is pretty cute" I grinned.

"Can we stop with the boy talk now please?" Glenn pleaded.

I bounced across to squeeze his cheeks.

"Aww! Poor Glenn…I promise your cute too" I giggled, "now I'm going to have to love you and leave you all as I'm so tired, goodnight"

I stood up, gave them each a hug and crossed the camp to where mum, dad, Carl and Shane were all sitting. I said goodnight to them all, giving my family hugs. I turned to Shane and smiled at him, he stood up, wrapped me up in a hug and then pressed a soft kiss to my lips.

"Night" I murmured, flashing him a smile, before heading off to my tent.

In the dark of my tent, I changed into a pair of checked flannel pyjama pants and a grey t-shirt. I pulled on some thick socks and climbed into a sleeping bag. Even though it was summer, it still dropped fairly chilly at night. I snuggled deep and closed my eyes, letting sleep wash over me.

I woke up feeling groggy but I knew it was still night. I don't know what woke me up but I soon started hearing…noises…from the tent next to mine. The tent mom and dad were in. Ok, now I felt sick. I so didn't want to be listening to the having sex. God this was so gross. I buried my head under my pillow, regretting that my tent was so closed to theirs. The pillow so wasn't working. With a roll of my eyes I carefully zipped open my tent and padded across the grass to Shane's tent. He wasn't on watch tonight so he should be in there. I unzipped the tent and crawled inside. Shane was laying on his back, his blanket pulled across the lower half of his body.

"They keeping you awake?" he whispered to me, I could hear the smirk in his voice.

"Well it's not exactly something I want to be hearing" I murmured.

Shane lifted the blanket and beckoned for me to climb underneath. I smiled to myself, scooting up close to Shane's side. His arm wrapped around my waist and his head rested on my shoulder. He was lovely and warm which was a bonus when I was sleeping in a tent. He pressed a couple of kisses into the hollow of my neck. I squirmed before rolling over to face him.

"As nice as that is" I murmured "it's a bit weird when my parents are getting busy in the next tent"

Shane chuckled against my skin.

"Fair point" he whispered before pulling me to him in a hug. It was pretty nice.

"I know this is all very new for us" I murmured "but I have to say I'm liking this…I've known you forever but this ,well, this isn't something I ever expected but I'm so glad I've got you Shane"

"This past year…I've been telling myself to stop feeling this way about you…" Shane confessed "I'm older than you, but I don't care…we could get bit tomorrow, I ain't gonna miss another minute that I could be spending with you"

I pressed a kiss to his lips.

"I'm glad you feel that way. I…I thought that as soon as my dad found out that would be it for us"

"Your dad may not like this Daisy but he knows I'd never hurt you, he'll tolerate this until he's fine with it"

"My dad will be a piece of cake, my mom's the tough one"

"We'll win her over" Shane insisted.

"Your such an optimist Shane"

"Only with you, Daisy" he laughed "only with you"

"What was it you were talking about in the woods?" I whispered to him.

"Oh back when you thought I was sleeping with your mother?" Shane chuckled. I slapped his arm playfully.

"Yes, then" I said with a roll of my eyes.

"She was worried I was getting too close to you…she guessed my feelings for you" he admitted.

"Oh….what did you say?"

"I told her she didn't need to worry about my feelings, I wouldn't hurt you. That much was true…I just didn't tell her how much I cared for you"

I smiled and curled into his side, closing my eyes.

"It's a good job I care for you too then isn't it?"

One of the things I actually enjoyed about living out in the open like we did was waking up in a morning. Obviously tents don't have much in the way of sound proofing, so when you wake up you can hear all of the things going on around the camp. You can hear the birds twittering in the woods around us, the sound of Carol and Jacqui cooking up breakfast, their voices travelling around us, Dale chattering away to Andrea as he got ready to go on watch on the roof of his RV. I often lay for a little while, just lying there, staring at the ceiling of my tent, listening.

So, I woke up in the morning, still wrapped up in Shane's arms, and I didn't get up immediately. I lay there listening to the sounds around me. Being there with Shane made it better, I wanted to wake up like this every morning. I smiled closing my eyes and sighing. This felt like it wold be a perfect morning.

"Daisy Marie Grimes you get your butt out of that tent right now" my mom's voice called out angrily from outside of the tent. I could see her shadow reflected against the fabric of the tent..

I sprang up into an upright position. Shane groggily sat up beside me. I sent him a pleading look.

"We'll be out in a minute Lori" Shane replied as he pulled on his boots.

I ran my fingers through my hair, knowing how messy it must have been. I was about to crawl out and face my mother's wrath when Shane pulled me back to him, pressing a kiss to my lips. It was a heated kiss until I heard my mom call out my name again.

"Urgh…come on! Let's go face the music" I grinned sarcastically.

Mom was waiting for us just outside the tent. Her arms were crossed tight across her chest and she was glaring viciously at Shane and I. I noticed that most of the camp was watching the proceedings. Dad was nowhere to be seen however, I presumed he was off at the creek or patrolling the camp or something.

"You explain yourself right now young lady! Did I say you could share a tent with Shane? No I didn't! You may think you're all grown up right now, Daisy, but you're not!"

"Mom…" I tried to say but she cut me off again.

"I may tolerate…this relationship you two have come up with but don't expect me to be happy about it. And you will not be sharing a tent with him!" Mom shouted.

I felt tears welling up in my eyes. How could my mom be so cruel to me? Surely after everything that had happened to us she would just be happy that I was happy? I stepped back from her, leaning against Shane. He slipped his hand into mine and squeezed it.

"I get that this is difficult for you mom, but you're just going to have to deal with it! This isn't going to change because you think you have a say in it!" I told her as calmly as I could manage.

"Don't you back talk me! Don't think of sharing a tent with Shane again, ok? If you do, I'll put an end to this relationship!" Mom snapped.

Now I was really angry!

"You try that and you'll seriously regret it, I love you mom, but I am not going to listen to you on this" I told her, jabbing my finger at her menacingly ( well I wanted to make it seem menacing but I doubt it worked).

I headed off to sit down next to the others where breakfast was being handed out, Shane walking beside me. Before I sat down I quickly whirled round to face my mother.

"Oh and mom? The only reason I went into Shane's tent last night was because you and dad were having sex in the tent next to mine! If you kept the noise down a little maybe we wouldn't be in this situation!"

Mom blushed before storming off towards the creek. I felt a little bad for embarrassing her like that but, well, she started it! If she'd left Shane and I alone then it would have been fine. I sighed and took the bowl of porridge goo that Carl handed me. Oh how I missed proper food!

"Thanks Carol" I smiled.

"You're welcome honey" Carol replied as she passed more bowls around the group.

Her sleeve rose up as she reached out and I noticed a hand shaped bruise around her wrist and lower forearm. She pulled her sleeve back down before I could get a proper look at it. I know it's wrong to make presumptions about people and situations but, well, I had a feeling it was Ed, Carol's husband, that was doing this to her. I didn't want to say anything though until I knew for sure.

As I was eating my breakfast I felt a hand clamp down on my shoulder. I looked round to see my dad giving me a weak smile.

"Don't lecture me, dad, she was bang out of order" I said.

"You know how Lori can be Rick" Shane interjected, backing me up.

"She's just worried about you is all, Daisy"

"I know dad, but she doesn't have a say in this".

My dad nodded before pulling me into a tight hug. I couldn't help but cry knowing how dangerous it could be in the city – I didn't want to lose him when I'd just gotten him back.

"Be careful out there dad" I pleaded.

"Always am" dad smiled, he turned to face Shane, "you'll look after her for me?"

"Of course man" Shane grinned, standing up to give dad a 'manly hug', "and I'll watch out for Lori and Carl too, don't worry about us"

Dad, Daryl, T-dog and Glenn all started to get ready to leave, arming up and saying goodbyes. I hugged T-Dog and Glenn and even told Daryl that I expected him to come back safe and sound. I had become attached to this group, I didn't want to lose anyone. As the big white van drove away from camp, I pressed myself into Shane's side, hoping that they'd all be ok.


	6. Chapter 6

Hey guys! So I'm putting up two chapters today so I hope you guys enjoy them :) I want to thank you guys for the support, just let me know what you think, yeah?

Oh and did you all see the mid season finale?! OMG OMG it was amazing! I sat there like gobsmacked for a good five minutes! It was just wow! Did you all enjoy it?

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Chapter 6

That morning started out pretty ordinary – well as ordinary as life can be when living like we do – with the women washing the clothes by the creek. Now I disagreed with this task on a number of levels. The first being that this was very sexist – why was it that women had to do the washing? Surely the men were just as capable. All our struggle to be so called equals and then an apocalypse hits and we're right back to washing the trousers of the male species. Secondly, I didn't really fancy spending my day washing clothes with my mother, I still wasn't talking to her and I didn't plan to for a while. And thirdly, and well, the most important to me, I hated washing clothes. It was the most dull and boring chore in the world. But Carol and Andrea had asked me to help out and I'd feel bad if I didn't.

So I spent the morning sat on the bank of the creak, a big tin bucket thing in front of me filled with cold water and soap and a scrubber in my hand. A pile of clothes sat there torturing me, no matter how much I seemed to wash it just didn't seem to get any smaller. I wasn't sat with the others, I couldn't deal with being in such close proximity to my mother right now. Every now and then I'd hear them laughing about something but I couldn't hear what. I was humming to myself to pass the time as I scrubbed at one of Glenn's t-shirts. Suddenly I heard raised voices. I turned round to see Ed pulling at Carol's arm, trying to drag her away. The other women were surrounding her, it looked like Andrea was trying to pull her back. Suddenly, Ed's hand lashed out and slapped Carol hard across the face. I gasped. I set off running towards the others. I saw Amy and mom pull Carol back while Andrea shouted at Ed.

"God, Ed, you're such a bully, what sort of man hits a woman, huh?" I yelled at him, my hands on my hips.

"You're better back off right now, kid" Ed warned me. I bristled at the term kid.

"Yeah, you going to hit me too?" I hissed "try it, and I swear you'll regret it"

My mom and Andrea were pulling at my arms but I shook them off.

"How dare you hit Carol! You're a worthless shit, you know that?" I told him before swinging my arm back and thumping him hard in the face, just like Shane had taught me when I was a kid.

Ed looked shocked but to be honest it didn't look like I had hurt him particularly which annoyed me a little. He glared at me menacingly and I gulped, crap now I was going to get hit.

"You leave my girl alone, Ed" mom told him, stepping forwards so that she could protect me.

It sort of made me smile a little on the inside that my mom was there to look out for me when I needed her. Before Ed could do anything else, he was hauled away and thrown onto the ground by Shane. Shane started laying into Ed, throwing punch after punch. I was shocked at first, I was frozen to the spot. Carol was crying uncontrollably and Andrea was telling him to stop. I dashed towards him, resting my hand on his arm. His arm tensed beneath me but he stopped punching Ed.

"You put your hands on your wife, your little girl, or anybody else in this camp one more time I will not stop!" Shane growled out "and if you even look at my girlfriend funny I swear I will put you down like a walker and not think twice about it, you hear?"

"Yes" Ed gasped out.

Shane stood up, gave Ed a little half-hearted kick in the side before letting him go. He stormed off back up towards camp. I glanced between Shane and the women, not sure where I was needed most

"Go see Shane, we'll look after Carol" Amy said, giving me a small smile.

"You sure? The washing…"

"I'll sort it, don't worry"

"Thank you, Amy, you're the best."

I gave my mom a quick thank you smile before heading up to camp after Shane. I found him pacing around next to his tent. I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around him.

"Thank you for coming to my rescue back there, and to Carol's too. She shouldn't have to put up with a husband who acts like that!" I sighed.

"He does it again and I'll make sure he can't. I'm just glad you're ok"

"I'm fine, don't worry about me"

Shane stepped away from me and raised an eyebrow.

"Don't worry about you? You took on a wife beater who wouldn't think twice about hitting you…of course I have to worry about you!"

"He hit Carol! I couldn't just stand there…it would have been wrong"

Shane smiled down at me and kissed me.

"You're too good a person you know" he murmured against my mouth.

"Of course I am" I giggled, pulling him to sit down in the communal area of camp, "now let me sort out those bruised knuckles of yours!"

I grabbed some cream and some bandages from the first aid kit. I washed his hands with a cloth and some water. The rag was pretty red by the time I had cleaned it all off. I applied some antiseptic cream and put a little bandage on to keep it clean. He sat patiently throughout.

"There you go, all done" I grinned.

"Thanks darling" he drawled.

I managed to refrain myself from giggling as he said that. It wasn't that he hadn't called me that before, he had said it numerous times over the years, but now it seemed to hold a different meaning for me. It seemed more special. It was like earlier when he'd been threatening Ed and he'd called me his girlfriend. Now obviously, he has never called me that before, but well I hoped he never stopped calling me that.

The rest of the day passed fairly smoothly. Amy and Andrea went fishing in the creek. Mom and Jacqui sat together with Morales's wife, chattering while folding laundry – they clearly have an exciting life! Shane was faffing about round the camp, I wasn't exactly sure what he was doing but I'm not his keeper! The only thing that was a bit weird was that Jim had been digging holes all day, Shane and Dale thought he had sunstroke or something so they'd had to tie him to a tree for a while. I sat on the roof of the RV with Dale, observing the camp below. I could see Carl, Sophia and the Morales children reading with Carol. I always thought it was cute that they still had this semblance of normality in their lives.

By nightfall my dad and the others who went to Atlanta weren't back. I was really nervous. We were all sitting round the campfire, well, all of us except for Ed who was in his ten, too humiliated I reckoned. Everyone else seemed to be fine, they didn't seem to be worried at all. People were drinking beer and laughing something to do with Dale's watch. We were having a fish fry with the fish caught in the creek by Andrea and Amy. Shane and Dale had untied Jim and he was sat round the fire too, he still looked a little jumpy but he was much better than he had been earlier. I was sat between Andrea and Shane. Shane's hand was resting on my thigh comfortingly. Amy stood up, climbing over the log in the direction of the RV.

"Where are you going?" Andrea asked.

"I need to pee…is that ok?" Amy joked, walking off towards the RV.

We all started laughing at that. I smiled and nestled into Shane's arm. Maybe I was worrying too much, maybe I should just enjoy moments like this. I grinned up at him and he leaned down to press a quick kiss to my lips.

"Hey, we're out of toilet paper!" Amy called out.

I turned round to shout back to her but before I could she let out a bloodcurdling scream. I jumped to my feet whirling round to see what was going on even though really I already knew. There was a walker latched onto her arm. Other walkers were surging in from all around us. Everyone panicked, backing away and screaming. Mom pulled Carl to her, reaching for my arm. Carol was doing the same with Sophia. Shane had his gun out and was shooting at the walkers. They were dropping but there were still too many. Terrified screams were mixed with those of people being bitten. I saw Morales swinging a baseball bit, grunting with the effort of crushing walker skulls. I reached for Shane's knife, my hand tightening on the handle.

I lashed out at an approaching walker, pushing the blade into its head. Its blood spurted out all over my arm but at least it dropped to the floor. I could see members off the group being chowed on by walkers. I was shaking. We were going to die here. Suddenly, more gunshots were firing, from multiple guns. I killed another walker before stumbling away from another. An arrow sailed through the air, piercing the skull of the walker. I glanced round to see that the others were back - other than Merle. With the help of the others we managed to put down the remaining walkers. I was covered in blood and guts but at least I wasn't bitten.

"Amy…" I murmured, turning to towards the Rv.

Amy was dead, one of my closest friends here at our camp, a walker had ripped chunks out of her arm and neck. Her pale body was lying there, just outside of the RV with Andrea holding her hand, leaning over her body and sobbing uncontrollably. With blurry tear filled eyes I noticed that there were other bodies covered in blood, motionless, on the grass. I stumbled blindly towards my family, still crying. Dad, mom, Carl and I were wrapped up in each other's arms, thankful that we'd not lost any members of our family. I felt guilty though, that we were able to show affection while other people were lying dead all around us.

We all stood there, looking around us, shell shocked by what had just happened to us. The men were on alert, there guns and weapons still ready just in case there was another onslaught of walkers. I stood near Andrea and Amy, not wanting to intrude but wanting to be near her to grieve for myself. Shane was hovering behind me, his hand resting on the small of my back. It was comforting, knowing he was there to protect me if I needed him.

"I remember why I was digging those holes now" Jim murmured, shocking the whole camp and making me feel a little bit sick.

By the time the sun began to rise, bringing light to the camp, we were almost done dealing with the bodies. After the kids had been put back to bed, we began dragging corpses of the walkers out to camp and to an area where some of the men had built a sort of pyre. We'd lost thirteen members of our group, including Amy and Ed. Our group was a hell of a lot smaller now. We had to put down members of our group before they came back as walkers before we carried them over to the holes Jim had dug. We buried our own solemnly, all except for Amy. Andrea was still sat at her side, unwilling to part with her sister. She wouldn't let anyone near Amy, dad tried to persuade her, so did Dale and so did Shane, but she just wouldn't budge.

Once I'd washed the grime and sweat off my body in the creek and changed into clean clothes, I slowly walked over to Andrea. I sat down on the floor beside her. I noticed that her face was stained from tears but she was no longer crying. There was a gun resting on the floor beside her, I presumed someone had left it there for when Amy came back to life.

"Hey Andrea" I murmured.

"They think I don't know what I have to do" she whispered "but I do. She's gone…and when she comes back it won't be her anymore"

"She's still your sister…dead or alive, Andrea"

"She's my baby sister"

"I know"

"I was meant to protect her…I was supposed to keep her safe! I've failed her"

I leaned over, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, she turned and cried into my chest. I cried with her, both of us grieving together. I know I didn't know Amy in the same way as Andrea did, of course I didn't, Amy was her sister. But, I'd cared for Amy, she was a girl who I'd bonded with while here in camp, someone I could spend time with and talk to. She was a friend. Andrea pulled away from me, and from her pocket she pulled out Amy's mermaid necklace. She put it around Amy's neck and clasped it.

We sat there a little longer, silently, as the rest of the camp began packing up. The decision had been made to move on. Being this close to Atlanta was dangerous, there were too many walkers around here. The decision on where we were going to go was still undecided. Dad thought it was best to go to the centre for disease control in Atlanta. I could see the logic behind that idea, the CDC would have been heavily guarded and if anywhere had information on how all this started than it would be there. Maybe there would even be people there. Shane however thought that it was too dangerous to go into Atlanta, that instead we should go to some military base instead. Again, that was a good idea too, there would probably be weapons and other supplies there that we could use. Bu as of yet, there was still no definite answer.

Suddenly, Amy began to move. She started to sit up, groaning slightly. She looked strange, with a funny colour about her. She was slow, like she wasn't sure what she was. Her arms reached out to grab at Andrea and I.

"Oh Amy" Andrea whispered as she held Amy away from her. Amy was sniffing and gnashing her teeth at us.

Andrea picked up the gun and shot Amy in the head. The sound of the gun echoed around me, ringing in my ears. Amy's body jolted backwards with the impact of the bullet, her blood splattering onto the side of the RV. She dropped to the floor, motionless and dead…this time permanently.

Not long after Andrea shot Amy, we buried her body. Just as we were all sitting around the camp, Jacqui started calling us over to where she was stood next to Jim. Her voice was panicked, I could tell something was wrong. We all stood up, rushing other to see what was wrong.

"Jim's bit…he's been bit" Jacqui informed us, jabbing her finger towards Jim.

I felt sorry for Jim. We were all gathered round him, some of us armed. He must have been pretty scared. Shane and my dad made him lift his shirt to reveal a rather gruesome looking bite. His skin was hanging off, and you could tell it had been chowed down on. It was bleeding slightly although not that much anymore. I guess the bite itself hadn't been that deep, if it had been a dog bite or something it perhaps wouldn't have been so bad. But this was a walker bite. Jim was a dead man.

"I'm going to be ok" Jim mumbled to himself over and over.

"Shit" Shane swore, running his hand through his hair.

Nobody really knew what to do about it. We knew that Jim had to be killed, otherwise he was going to come back and kill us. But Jim was alive, it wasn't the same as putting down Amy who was a walker already. No, we couldn't just shoot him. But what could we do. I could see the sweat of the fever on Jim's face. It had already begun. Reluctantly, Jim allowed himself to be tied up to the tree again until we could figure out what to do. Even when we walked away towards the campfire I could still hear Jim muttering to himself about how he'd be ok. I knew he wouldn't be…and that broke my heart.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The decision was made that we would head to the CDC, I think the hope was that we might find something to help Jim. I didn't think that was likely, we knew from experience that that wasn't the way it worked. But I did agree with going to the CDC, maybe there were people there who could help the rest of us, so that we wouldn't have to go risking our lives all the time.

So the next morning we were all packed up and ready to go. In a way I was actually pretty sad about leaving. It had just started to feel, well, homely here. But, on the other hand, I was happy to leave the sad memories of my dead campmates and friends behind. Morales and his family didn't want to come with us so they were heading off somewhere else, to see if they could find any other members of their family.

We had a caravan of five; Dale's RV, Carol's station wagon, Daryl's motorbike, Shane's jeep and another car. Unfortunately Glen and I had lost our battle to keep the sports car, it had been stripped for parts and fuel for the RV generators. Dale, Jacqui, Jim and Andrea travelled in the RV. Jacqui needed to be with Jim to look after him, his fever had worsened through the night, I didn't think he'd last much longer. Carol, Sophia and Carl rode in the station wagon, and mom, dad, T-Dog and Glenn had the other car. I was with Shane in his jeep. He had some CD's in the car so I spent the journey singing along to help pass the time. I know it wasn't exactly appropriate to enjoy myself given the situation we were in, with Jim in the RV dying and Amy and the others already died. But well, I guess that's the world now, you have to take enjoyment when you can.

"God, Dais, you know how I feel for you and everything…but damn girl you really can't sing to save your life!" Shane laughed, his eyes remaining on the road.

"Jackass" I retaliated, poking my finger into his leg, "you know how long it's been since I've heard music, just let me enjoy myself".

"Ok…but can you turn it down a notch…I don't wanna lose the ability to hear!"

"Yeah, yeah" I giggled before turning the volume down a bit.

I pulled my legs up beneath me and sat cross legged on the seat.

"So…has my mom had a go at you yet?" I asked him.

"She warned me that I better treat you right or she'd remove my ability to procreate" he laughed.

"Then you better be nice to me!"

"Like I ain't always!"

"Okaaaaaaay…well you'll just have to find a way to be even nicer to me"

Shane gave me a sideways glance, giving me that smirk of his. I felt the butterflies fluttering in my stomach.

"I assure you I've got plenty of ways to be nice to you, Daisy" Shane drawled.

I felt myself blush. He kept one hand on the wheel but placed the other one on my leg. He didn't look at me or anything but kept looking on ahead. His hand slipped up my thigh, his fingers running smoothly over the bare skin. He brushed across he hem of shorts at the inner thigh, running over my underwear. I gasped and I felt his hand hesitate. I nudged his hand with my leg and he continued his ministrations. I leaned back in my chair, and bit my lip. I couldn't believe myself. Ok I knew in the grand scheme of things this wasn't that big a deal, and I knew that this was nothing for him. Christ I was still wearing all my clothes. But it was intimate and it was good…even if it was in his car.

The cars in front began to brake and slow down. Shane's hand moved away from my leg as the cars stopped. We climbed out to see what was going on. I stood next to T-Dog as Dale lifted up the hood of the RV to see what the problem was.

"You look a little red in the face there girl" T-Dog taunted quietly "Shane been keeping you occupied in that car"

"Shhh!" I hissed "my parents might hear you!"

"Jeez calm down Daisy! I'm only messing with you" T-Dog laughed, ruffling my hair.

Dale was faffing about fixing the RV while we all milled about. Jim was pretty bad, he was barely hanging on, he was practically delirious. Once the RV was fixed and we were ready to go again Dale, Jacqui, my dad and Shane took Jim aside and began talking to him. I was stood with Glenn, Carl and T-Dog, we didn't really know what was going on. I craned my neck to try and get a better look. I saw them lead Jim up to a tree at the side of the road. He slumped down against it. I saw them talk to him, and Jacqui pressed a kiss to his cheek. They handed him a gun and walked away. I pressed a hand to my mouth. He was going to kill himself, we were going to leave him behind.

We all got back in our vehicles and carried on our journey to the CDC. This time the ride was quiet, I was too worried about what we were going to find once we reached our destination. The streets of Atlanta were crawling with walkers, they were standing on edges of streets, slumped onto the floor, everywhere. When they heard the cars they began stumbling towards us. We pulled to a stop outside the CDC, it was surrounded by army jeeps and tanks and walkers in army suits. We all jumped out, grabbing our rucksacks and weapons and raced for the doors of the CDC as quick as we could. The walkers came at us as we reached the doors. Dad was banging on them, shouting and begging for someone to let us in. We all had our weapons out, I gripped Shane's knife tightly in my hand, ready to use it if necessary.

"Come on man we've got to go!" Shane was saying to my dad, "there's nobody in there! We're going to get killed out here, Rick!"

"No the camera moved! Let us in! We've got women and children, please, please, just let us in!"

We were about to give up and run back to the vehicles when the door opened and let us in. A blood test being the price of admission. We all bustled inside, the doors shutting behind us, keeping the walkers at bay.

"Those doors won't be opening again" the man who had let us in warned.

Dad stepped forward towards the man and introduced himself. The man claimed he was Dr Jenner. He led us inside and into a underground laboratory. We all take a seat and Jenner began taking blood samples from us all. I was always pretty good at needles and what have you so it didn't really bother me that much, but Andrea didn't do so well. Jacqui practically had to hold Andrea up as the blood was taken.

"Staff housing is locked down now but there are cots and shower rooms along this corridor" Jenner told us as we walked along, "there is recreation room along the hall too, we're conserving electricity so don't use the game consoles but you're welcome to read the books in there. Now, I'll let you sort yourselves into rooms, I'll cook us up some dinner".

It didn't take too long for us to work out who was sleeping where. Obviously mom and dad and Carl were sharing, and T-Dog and Glenn decided to share too. Andrea and Jacqui bunked together too, I sort of pitied Jacqui, I know that sounds harsh but Andrea was obviously upset so sharing with her wasn't exactly going to be a barrel of laughs. Carol and Sophia got a little room to share. Daryl and Shane had to share a room too which I found hilarious since there was only a double mattress on the floor in there. I somehow couldn't imagine Shane and Daryl snuggling up together at night.

"Hey where do I get to sleep?" I asked as I didn't seem to be allocated one.

"Oh, well you're welcome to share a room with Sophia and I" Carol smiled.

"Thanks Carol that would be great!" I grinned.

We all split off into our rooms to sort ourselves out. I didn't unpack, I just chucked my rucksack down on the floor and lay back on one of the mattresses. Oh how I loved mattresses. Carol had the first shower, followed by Sophie. By the time it was my turn for a shower the water was lukewarm and the water pressure wasn't great but hell it was shower, there was no way I was going to complain. It so beat washing in the creek. I even found some shaving gel stuff so I shaved my legs till I was silky smooth.

I got dressed in frayed denim shorts and a cropped purple vest. I padded back out into the room and pulled my hair up into a fishtail plait over my shoulder. Carol and Sophia had already left for dinner. I slipped into some flip flops and left the room. I wandered the corridors until I found the sort of cafeteria area. Everyone else was already sat down and eating. I noticed that mom had left a space between her and Carl with a plate of food for me. I sat down, and began eating. The food was nice, it had been so long since we'd ate a proper meal.

"You ok, idiot?" I asked my brother.

"Yeah, Daisy, mom found me some comics in the rec room earlier" Carl grinned.

"Oh that's good squirt" I laughed "you'll be able to read them after dinner"

Dale was telling my mum to give my brother and me alcohol but mom wouldn't allow it at first. I raised an eyebrow at her, gesturing to the fact that I'm nearly eighteen years old. She rolled her eyes and poured me a glass of wine. I sipped at it, I'd had wine before of course but it had never been to my taste. I drank it anyway, just to prove that I wasn't a kid anymore. In the end, mom let Carl have a small glass but he didn't like the taste at all. I laughed as he spluttered.

I glanced round the room, I noticed that Andrea hadn't turned up, poor woman. Shane was sat at the far side near T-Dog and Daryl. He caught me looking at him and he smirked back at me. He winked at me. I blushed a little and looked away, back down at my plate. We all sat around laughing, being happy. I spotted Jenner sat on the edge, he looked a little uncomfortable. I caught his eye and gave him a smile. He nodded his head and smiled back.

We all sat around a little longer. Glenn was getting pretty drunk, as was Daryl. Shane was still pretty sober. It was suggested we should all head off to bed and I agreed, I was feeling a little tired. We all stood up and we thanked Jenner for being so kind to us. He smiled at us as we left but I could tell he felt uncomfortable at the attention. We all began to file out of the cafeteria area and along the corridor to our rooms. I said goodnight to my mom and Carl, my dad was talking to Jenner in the cafeteria, and headed off towards the room I was sharing with Carol and Sophia. Before I could enter the room I felt a hand on my arm. I turned round to face Shane. I smiled up at him.

"Hey" I grinned, leaning up to kiss him.

"Hey" he mumbled against my mouth "you want to meet me in the rec room later?"

I pulled away from him and looked up into his face. He was looking down at me, with this strange look in his eyes that I couldn't really decipher.

"Oh…ummm….well…ummm" I babbled.

Shane rolled his eyes at me.

"I ain't gonna force anything on you" he told me quietly "I just want some time with my girl"

"Your girl, huh?" I asked, my lips curling up in a smile.

"Yeah, you're my girl…"

"I like that" I grinned "I'll meet you later…I'll have to wait till Carol and Sophia are asleep though!"

We kissed again before I slipped into my room. Carol had tucked Sophia under a blanket on one of the mattresses. Carol had changed into some old joggers and was about to get under her blanket. I smiled at her. I quickly went to the toilet, turned out the light and slipped beneath the sheet that Carol had laid out for me. She was such a lovely woman.

I lay there for what felt like forever. I didn't want to risk them being awake as I tried to sneak out. So, I lay there until I could hear Sophia's breathing slow and Carol was snoring lightly. As I lay there I couldn't help but mull over what was going to happen when I went to the rec room to see Shane. I know that he wasn't expecting anything from me, but well, this was a Shane. Obviously, I've known Shane a long time, so I know what he's like with women. Mom and dad tried to hide that aspect of Shane's life from Carl and I, but I'm not stupid. I've been over his place when girls have left messages on the answering machine at his place, and let's just say they are often R rated. Plus, I'd heard him telling dad about his latest conquests. I'm not mad about that, I just well…I'm hardly much in comparison am I? He's had all this experience with all these experienced girls, and then there's me: the seventeen year old virgin.

I sighed. _Stop being a baby, Daisy, Pull yourself together._ As quietly as I could manage, I slipped out from the sheet and army crawled across the floor. I opened the door and crept out into the corridor. On my tiptoes, I ran along the corridor and opened the door to the rec room. But stupid me tripped over my own feet and went sprawling onto the floor with a bang. I grunted on impact and rolled onto my back. Shane stood over me and grin on his face.

"Don't you dare laugh at me, Mr!" I threatened as he reached out a hand to pull me to my feet.

"God you're clumsy!" he laughed.

I slapped his arm.

"I told you not to laugh!"

I noticed that the lights in the room were still off. Shane pulled me over to a couch. He sat down and sat me down next to him. It was quiet for a moment, my heart beating fast in my chest. Silently, Shane pulled me onto his lap, his hands finding their way to my hips. I leaned forwards and kissed him. His kisses were insistent, not quite bruising but just enough you know? As my hands ran down his shoulders he pulled my top over my head, taking me in with lust filled eyes.


	8. Chapter 8

Hey there guys :) I know the last chapter ended at a bit of a crucial point so I'm sorry if this next bit is a bit of a let down, I just didn't want to rush things with Daisy and Shane. Plus I'm not particularly good at writing 'sexy scenes'...so I think I'll have to work on that before I ever publish one. Would that sort of thing fit with the story do you reckon? Or should I just imply it? So, here is chapter 8 and 9, I hope you all enjoy them...let me know what you think of them! :) x

Chapter 8

I woke up the next morning curled up into Shane's side, his arm wrapped around me, my head resting on his chest. We were tucked up on the sofa in the rec room, a blanket pulled up over us. I stuck to my word last night, Shane and I didn't have sex. I made it clear that I just wasn't ready yet. He was understanding about it, he just nodded and smiled and told me he would never force me to do anything I didn't want to do. I didn't admit that I was worried about how I would compare to the women who had shared Shane's bed in the past. However that didn't mean we didn't fool around for a little while. Let's just say that that man can do _amazing_ things with his hands.

Yeah, so, moving on, I woke up and slipped out from underneath his arms. I shook his shoulder slightly to wake him up.

"Morning darling" he smiled, stretching and standing up.

"Morning" I replied as I ran my fingers through my hair. I knew how messy it must look.

"I better get changed before breakfast…I don't want Carol to worry about me" I told him, reaching up to give him a quick kiss before dancing out of the room.

I felt like I was on cloud nine as I changed into a pair of jeans (ripped from too much wear, but I hear that's a fashion thing these days), and a cropped t-shirt with some basketball team on the front. I ran a brush though my hair, letting it hang loose for a change. Luckily, when I entered the room, Carol and Sophia were still fast asleep. But by the time I was dressed they were up and getting ready too. I put Sophia's hair into plaits for her. She really was a sweet kid. I walked with Carol and Sophia to the cafeteria.

"Morning" dad called, crossing the room to pull me into a hug.

"Morning dad" I replied "what's for breakfast?"

"You're always thinking about food!"

"Hey! You've got to eat when you can, you never know when you'll get your next meal…plus…you know I'm pretty greedy"

Dad chuckled and led me over to the table he was sharing with Daryl, Glenn and T-Dog. Glenn's head was resting on the table and he was groaning. He was recovering from a pretty horrible hangover! Well it serves him right for drinking so much now doesn't it? We had powdered eggs which I suppose weren't as good as the real thing but hell, I wasn't going to complain. As we all ate our food we chattered about how good this place was.

"Those showers were amazing!" I gushed to my dad as I shovelled eggs into my mouth "and, did you see how many books they have in the rec room? I mean it's like a library in there…"

"God you can be annoying!" Glenn groaned as he took another sip of water.

"Oh stop your whining Glenn! It's only a little hangover" I told him cheerily.

"You wouldn't say that if you had hammers pounding your brain!" he hissed.

"Ok, no bickering you two!" dad chuckled.

After breakfast, Dale started asking Jenner about what he knew of the walkers, what started them. Jenner sighed and beckoned for us all to follow him. As everyone stood up I quickly slurped back my apple juice – yes, apple juice! – and shoved the remainder of my eggs into my mouth. I jogged after them, not wanting to leave them me behind. We reached a room that looked like a control centre type thing, Jenner had this weird speaking computer thing called Vi. I personally thought it was a bit weird that an educated man like him programmed his computer to have a girl's voice and talk to him. He had a video up on a big screen.

"Vi, please play enhanced internal view of TS-19" Jenner said and the screen began to play.

We watched as the brain activity of the test subject decreased, the lights shown on the screen winking out. I gulped, knowing the person was dying. I glanced across at Andrea, knowing that she would be thinking of Amy. I noticed she was clutching at the desk next to her, Jacqui was holding on to her, supporting her.

"All those lights represent what makes a person who they are…" Jenner explained but I tuned him out, I was too busy focusing on the screen.

The lights went off in the brain and the video fast-forwarded slightly. We watched as some of the lights in the brain switched back on, not all of them, and I knew it wasn't the parts that dictated who we are as people. It was the parts that brought on the urge to eat flesh. The body started to move slightly. A gun came into view and the body sank back down as a bullet was put into its brain. Andrea gasped and Jacqui rubbed her back.

"She lost her sister two days ago" Jacqui informed Jenner.

The lights started to dim and go off, the screen turning off too. We all started glancing around to see what the hell was going on. The room was lit only by the emergency lighting. I whipped my head around, starting to panic. I pulled Carl to me out of habit.

"What's going on? Dad asked.

"The building is going into lockdown…our fuel supply is running out. The CDC was built to protect against the world's deadliest diseases"

"What does that mean?" I asked quietly, stepping round the others so I could face Jenner.

"Centre-wide decontamination…the air will burn"

"Oh my god" I whispered, stumbling backwards into a desk, my hand covering my mouth as I tried to process this.

"How the hell do we stop it?" Shane demanded.

"We can't" he said simply "once that emergency generator runs out, that's it, I can't stop it"

"Shit!" Shane swore.

"Everyone get your stuff together, we're leaving…Daryl, Shane, come with me, we need to find gas for that generator" dad ordered.

We all began rushing back to our rooms to grab our things. I looked back to see Jenner sitting calmly at a desk chair. He was plain weird. I was glad that I hadn't really unpacked, it made grabbing my stuff a hell of a lot easier. I threw my rucksack onto my back and held the holdall on my arm. I slung a few toiletries, books and blankets into it, I knew that we wouldn't get much of a chance to pick up things like that anytime soon. I was about to head back to the room to meet the others when I realised that Shane and Daryl were with my dad so wouldn't be able to get their own things. With a growl I ran back along the corridor to where they were sharing a room. I grabbed their things as quickly as I could, the main lights had yet to come back on so I didn't hold out much hope for being able to fix things.

I ran back along the corridor, weighed down by the multiple rucksacks and holdalls. I eventually made it back to the main room, noticing that the others, except for my dad, Daryl and Shane were back. I was out of breath and gasping as I dropped some of the bags to the floor. The others looked scared too. I was pacing back and forth, my mom had Carl tucked under her arm and she was watching me closely. Every time I'd pace too far away she'd snap at me to stay by her. Dad, Daryl and Shane raced back into the room. I could see by their faces that they hadn't found any gas for the generators. I bit my lip.

"There's no gasoline" dad addressed Jenner, "how long have we got till the decontamination takes place?"

"Five minutes" Jenner informed us.

Dad pinched the bridge of his nose for a second before turning to face us all.

"Everybody back outside, get to the vehicles…we're leaving" dad instructed.

We all began grabbing our bags and heading for the exit. Before we could leave, these big metal shutters slammed down, trapping us. Oh god. We were going to die. Shane began hitting at the doors, even firing his gun at it but to no avail, it wouldn't budge.

"You open those doors" I shouted at Jenner, "you open those doors right now!"

Daryl lunged at Jenner, ready to whack him. Dad and T-Dog pulled him back. We needed Jenner to open those doors. Carol and Sophia were huddled together crying.

"Isn't this better? What is there in the world out there that makes you want to leave? You'll die anyway…you'll die and become one of them, you'll die painfully. Here, it'll all be over in an instant, no pain" Jenner insisted "this is a better way"

"No!" I cried, stepping closer to Jenner "you can't do that to is, what makes you fit to decide our fate? It might be dangerous out there, but I want to live Dr Jenner! Look at Carl, Sophia! They're just kids! You can't kill us like this. Please Dr Jenner, please!"

"You'll die out there, this, this is painless!"

"That's our choice! Please, let us out, we just want a chance…I just want a chance"

Jenner turned around and typed at one of the computers. The doors began to roll up. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you" I told him.

Jenner nodded and looked away, his hands clasped in his lap.

"Come on" Dad rushed me, ushering me towards the exit.

"Andrea, Jacqui, let's go" I said, they were the only two not heading for the door.

"We're staying" Jacqui told us quietly, "we've had enough of this loss, it's too much"

"No." Dale gasped, stepping forward to grasp Andrea's hand, "you can't"

"Daisy, come on!" Shane yelled, slipping his hand through mine.

"I can't leave them!" I replied.

"I can't let you die" he countered.

"Dale?" I said quietly, "if this is what they want, you can't stop them, it's their choice, just as it is ours to leave here. Please. Andrea, Jacqui, I love you both, I don't want you to do this…but I understand"

I smiled at them with tear filled eyes before I let Shane drag me from the room. I heard Dale speaking to Andrea, telling her that if she was going to stay then he was too. I didn't want to lose Dale, he was important to me, but I couldn't force him to change his mind. With our bags thrown on our backs, we raced out of the exit, my dad hot on our heels. As we reached the entrance to the CDC I realised that the doors were also covered in that metal, part of the CDC lockdown rather than Jenner's doing. We all panicked, trying to get the metal to move. Carol pulled a grenade out of her bag and handed it to my dad.

"I found it in your pack when you first got to camp" she admitted with a blush "will it work?"

"It just might" Dad grinned.

"You carry grenades now, dad?" I gawked, "you could have blown us all up!"

"I don't think this is the time to be discussing this Daisy" Dad drawled, "now everyone get down!"

We all prepared ourselves as dad through the grenade. It worked. With ringing ears, we all piled out of the broken windows, Shane helping me over the frame. We ran across the grass, the walkers stumbling after us. Shane and dad had to take out a few of the walkers as we made our way to the vehicles. As we got to the cars, we heard this rumbling noise.

"Get behind the sandbags!" Dad yelled.

I thought he was just calling out to us, but then I saw Dale rushing out from the building. As he neared us, he heard what dad was saying. He dived behind the sandbags just as flames exploded out of the CDC. The licked up into the air, razing the place to the ground…with Andrea and Jacqui still inside. I began sobbing uncontrollably. Another two of our group, my friends, lost. Shane bundled me into the station wagon alongside T-Dog. He got into the driver's seat and floored it. I didn't look up to see where we were heading. I was too busy crying into T-Dog's side. We'd lost so much, so, so much.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

We spent the night at the side of the road on the highway on fifty miles out of Atlanta. We slept in the vehicles, huddled up together, our weapons on our laps just in case. I didn't sleep well, I spent most of the night curled up under a blanket, my head resting on the window, just looking out at the road outside. Before we'd fallen asleep, T-Dog had moved into the front seat and Shane had moved into the back to sit next to me. He'd kept his arm around me, holding me to him.

When dawn broke we had a group meeting. I sat on the hood of the station wagon, my legs crossed as dad and the others discussed options. Carol handed out breakfast bars to the group – it did little to stop the grumbling of my stomach but I was grateful for the food nonetheless. In the end, it was decided that we should head towards Fort Benning, the military base. I had a feeling though that the place would be crawling with soldiers that had gone walker, but it was the only shot we had right now.

We split up into our cars. Dale, Glenn, T-Dog, Shane and I in the RV. Mom, Dad, Carl, Carol and Sophia in the station wagon. And Daryl riding Merle's motorbike. It was more cramped than we were used to but we had to cut down on the cars to save fuel. We set off, with me sitting shotgun next to Dale.

"How are you feeling, Dale?" I asked as we trundled along the highway behind Daryl's bike.

"I miss her already…I didn't want to leave her there" Dale admitted "I took in Andrea and Amy when this chaos began, I thought of her as family"

"If you don't mind me asking, what made you change your mind?"

"My wife, Irma, she wouldn't want me to give up hope that we can survive this thing…there are still people I care about here. You, Glenn…it wouldn't be right of me to leave you behind"

"Oh, Dale, we all care about you too, you know that, don't you? I wish Jacqui and Andrea hadn't stayed with Jenner, but I'm so glad you didn't stay with them too"

Dale reached across to pat my hand. I squeezed his hand before resting my head on the window and letting Dale concentrate on driving. About an hour later we started to slow down, there were too many cars on the road for Dale to get the RV through. As Daryl, on the motorbike, snaked through the cars to find a way through, the RV started making a spluttering noise before conking out completely. We all piled out, the other car pulling to a stop beside us. Dale popped the hood and began faffing with the stuff in there.

"Is there a way through?" I asked Daryl as he pulled up beside us.

"Yeah, a few cars need shifting" Daryl grunted. I rolled my eyes at him, he had a real lack of social skills but he was growing on me.

"Can you fix it Dale?" dad asked.

"It's rusted out, more tape than parts…but I'm sure I can cobble something together, one of these cars will have something I can use" Dale nodded.

Dale and Glenn began working on the RV while the rest of us began searching through the cars for anything we could have a use for – food, water, clothes, batteries, etc. It was a pretty gruesome task, there were rotting bodies sitting in those cars, stinking. Daryl gave me a bandanna to tie around my mouth and nose to keep some of the horrid smell away. I manage to find some clothes that might be useful for the group as well as some aspirin and a few packs of batteries. T-Dog and Daryl worked on moving some cars out of the way so that when the RV was fixed we'd be able to get through. I saw mom and Carol working together to find food in the vehicles. Carl and Sophia were helping them too. My dad and Shane found a whole load of water bottles in a van, they'd definitely come in handy, especially if we were on the road for a while. After my bag was full, I headed back to the RV. I dumped it inside and headed back out.

"Walkers!" Dale hissed, beckoning for me to hide.

I glanced around and saw lots of walkers, a herd of them, stumbling through the cars. With my heart pounding, I dropped to the ground and crawled under the RV. From the floor, I could see that my mum and Carol had hid under one car, with Carl and Sophia huddled together under another on the opposite side of the road. I couldn't tell where the others were, I just hoped they'd picked good hiding places. I held my breath as walker feet after walker feet trudged past, the air filled with the sounds of groaning. It took about ten minutes for the herd of walkers to thin. I could see Sophia fidgeting under the car, scuttling away from Carl and crying with fear of the walkers. A walker stumbled past her, too close to her, and she let out a small scream. The walker scrambled at her and she crawled away. The fuss brought another walker to her. She shrieked before rushing off down the grassy bank at the side of the road. With a gasp I shuffled out from under the RV, just in time to see my dad running down the bank after Sophia, a few walkers on their heels.

I moved to follow them but before I could a walker grasped my arm, another one stumbling towards me. I stepped back away from them, regretting the fact that I had no weapon on me. I managed to free my arm from the grip of the walker.

"Daisy!" Dale called out from the other side of the RV.

I heard a noise coming from underneath the RV. I quickly dived down and grabbed the screwdriver that was rolling towards me. I gripped the handle in my hand and shoved it straight through the walker's skull. I finished off the other one, splattering myself in blood and guts but I was too panicked to care. I ran across the road, weaving past the cars and launched myself over the barrier at the side of the road. I reached the bottom of the bank and glanced around, I couldn't see my dad, Sophia or the walkers. I crashed through the trees, and along the side of the stream. I stopped, I still couldn't see them, maybe I had ran the wrong way? I ran my hand through my hair. I hit out at the nearest tree. _Damn it!_, I thought, _where were they?_

I heard feet behind me and I whirled round, hoping it was dad and Sophia, hoping that they'd doubled round and stumbled across me. It wasn't, it was Shane. He grabbed my arm and pulled me to him, holding me tightly to his chest.

"Are you ok?" he asked me.

"I couldn't find them" I stuttered "I followed them down here…but I couldn't find them"

"They'll be fine, come on back up to the highway"

I nodded and let Shane lead me back up to the highway, I hadn't realised how far I'd ran while looking for my dad and Sophia. He had one hand slipped through mine and his gun in the other, we didn't want to run into any walkers that had strayed from the herd. When we reached the highway everyone turned to look at us. While I could tell that my mom and the others were relieved that I was ok, I could also tell that I wasn't the only one they were hoping would be emerging from the woods. I glanced around with a pit in my stomach. Dad was back, but no Sophia.

"Oh god" I whispered.

I was shaking a little, if I had only been faster I could have caught up with them, I could have helped dad save Sophia. I suddenly noticed that T-Dog was leaning back against a car, some ripped cloth pressed against his arm. He looked strange, his face paling. Glenn was on one side of him, Daryl on the other. I skittered across to him.

"What happened, T?" I asked.

"Sliced it" he muttered.

I retrieved the first aid kit and a bottle of water from the RV before settling T-Dog down in the seat of a car. As I did what I could to clean up the wound I listened in on the conversations of the rest of the group. Dad was planning to go into the woods with Daryl to see if they could track Sophia. The rest of us were going to stay here and carry on clearing the blockade of cars.

I wanted to go with my dad and Daryl but I knew I'd only slow them down. Daryl was a great tracker and my dad was good with a gun – I didn't really have that much to offer to the search at this point. Mom asked me to stay with T-Dog, to make sure he was ok. I knew that she was asking me to do this so I'd stay out of trouble but I was happy to do it. T-Dog was my friend, I didn't want to leave him on his own when he was injured. I'd cleaned up his wound as best as I could and I had wrapped his arm up in a makeshift compress using a clean dishcloth and a strip of fabric and I'd given him some aspirin but I knew that wasn't doing much for him. He had his head rested on the chair and his eyes were closed. I kept checking in with him to make sure he wasn't falling asleep.

As T-Dog rested, I watched the others and kept an eye out for any more herds of walkers. Dale was trying to fix the RV. Glenn, Carl, mom and Shane were clearing the blockade of cars and ransacking them as best they could. I'd seen Carol head into the RV when everyone set to work. She'd been crying silently, obviously she was terrified over what could possibly be happening to her daughter. I hoped Sophia was ok, Carol would be heartbroken if she didn't come back, and to be fair, so would the rest of us.

About an hour later, dad and Daryl were back, still without Sophia. I was really worried now. I knew the odds, if they didn't find her soon, then she would surely die. She was only a little girl and there were so many walkers out there. She would only be able to survive so long on her own. Carol started crying when she saw them. Mom had tried to comfort her but Carol had shrugged her off, and began shouting at my dad.

"This is your fault!" she cried "you left her own down there! She's just a little girl!"

"I know…I promise you, I'll do anything I can to find Sophia" dad replied before walking away.

I could tell by the look on his face that he was feeling even more guilty. I was going to go after him but mom beat me to it. When my parents came back, dad explained that the search would continue in the morning as it would be getting dark soon. More of us would be going out too, we couldn't just rely on dad and Daryl to do all the searching.

We'd set out a few chairs on the road side but the group weren't all sitting there. Carol was sat by herself in the RV, while Dale and Glenn were on top of it on watch. Mom and I set about making some rice and beans for the group. It wasn't particularly appetising but it was food – that was good enough for us!

"Are you ok, honey?" mom asked me as she stirred the pots.

"Uh-huh" I mumbled "I just hope Sophia is ok"

"I'm sure we'll find her tomorrow, she'll be ok"

"Hmm" I replied, I wasn't so sure to be honest.

We were silent for a few minutes as I got the little metal tray camping dish things we'd picked up out of the bag. Mom cleared her throat and carried on faffing on with the food while she spoke.

"So, how are you and Shane doing?" she murmured.

"Um fine mom..." I stuttered "we're good"

"That's good, I'm glad" she nodded.

"Are you two having sex?" she asked in hushed tones.

I blushed bright red, I really didn't want to be having this conversation with her. It was very, very awkward.

"Mom!" I squeaked.

"I just want you to be careful honey" she told me, "you know I'm not the greatest fan of your relationship but I want you to be happy. And if Shane makes you happy then that's ok…I just don't want grandkids anytime soon!"

I nodded before quickly dishing out the food into the bowls. Before she could embarrass me any more, I stood up and headed over to the others to distribute the food. I handed out bowls to dad, Shane and Daryl who were sat round a lantern discussing the best ways to search for Sophia in the morning. Shane gave me a quick kiss and a squeeze of my hand when I came over. I didn't really stop to speak with him, I didn't want to disturb him when he and my dad and Daryl were busy. I passed up bowls to Dale and Glenn but didn't stop to speak to them either.

"Hey Carol, do you want some food? It's only rice and beans I'm afraid" I asked quietly as I poked my head inside the RV.

Carol was sat on the RV's sofa with one of Sophia's dolls pressed up against her chest. My heart broke just looking at her. She didn't speak, she just looked at me before slowly shaking her head. I sighed, leaving the bowl on the counter beside her just in case she changed her mind. After that, I headed over to the station wagon. T-Dog was sitting in the back seat, he still looked really rough. I slipped in beside him closing the door.

"I brought you some food, T" I smiled before handing him the bowl.

"Thanks, Daisy" he mumbled.

He slowly began putting food in his mouth. I ate my own food quietly beside him. I noticed that he was sweating slightly, and he looked off. I reached into my pocket and pulled out some aspirin. He took it willingly, but well, I knew that if he was ill then there wasn't much that aspirin could do for him. When we'd both finished eating, I took the bowls away to be washed up. I helped mom wash up but quickly returned to T-Dog with some blankets. We'd all be sleeping in the cars again tonight and I was expecting it to be pretty cold.

As night drew in once more, I sandwiched myself into the back of the station wagon with Carl and my mom. Daryl was up front. He was already asleep, his head resting on the window and his crossbow in his lap. T-Dog had been moved into the RV along with Glenn, Carol, and Dale. My dad and Shane were on watch. I was supposed to be taking the next shift with Daryl, so I had to catch some shut eye before it was my turn.

I woke with a jump, startled when dad tapped on the window to wake up Daryl and I for our shift on watch. I'd never been given an official watch shift before. I'd sat on top of the RV with Dale, or whoever else was on duty before but I'd never done it properly. To be honest, I think I was only picked because I'd been whinging to both my dad and Shane about how I had had enough of being treated like a kid. I only had a knife Shane had given me though so I doubt I'd be much good if a herd came through again.

I clambered over the top of Carl, trying not to wake him up. Once out, dad handed me a flashlight and a tartan blanket. He pressed a kiss to my forehead and told me to be careful before slipping into the front seat of the station wagon. I was about to head up the ladders to the RV when Shane grabbed my hand. He pulled me to him before stepping me back against the side of the RV. I chuckled against his chest.

"I've barely seen you since we left the CDC" he murmured as he pressed kisses to my neck.

"We've….been...busy" I gasped as he nipped at me lightly.

His mouth moved to meet mine and I melted against him . One of his hands gripped my hip, the other slipping up my top. I groaned as his hand made contact. I pulled him closer to me, my hands skimming across his chest. Suddenly Daryl cleared his throat from up above us.

"You gonna stop that down there? Gonna attract the walkers with all those kissin' noises" Daryl grunted, due to the glow of his flashlight I could just about make out the smirk on his face.

I blushed while Shane simply let out a small laugh. I pushed Shane away and began climbing the ladder. Daryl had resettled himself on one of the two camping chairs set up there. I sat down beside him and arranged the blanket around my legs. It was almost silent, only disturbed by the soft sound of Dale's snoring that seemed to linger up here.

"Do you miss Merle, Daryl?" I murmured quietly.

"What you asking that for?" Daryl snapped.

"Sorry" I mumbled "I….just…well, I know I would miss Carl if he went missing, I just guessed you'd feel the same"

"He ain't missing…he was left behind!"

"That was wrong, but well, so was what he did to T…"

Daryl simply nodded, his jaw tight.

"Were you two close?"

"Do we have to do the sharing thing?"

"Yep. You keep yourself separate with the others, you don't make friends…well I'll have you know I am like…the most amazing friend…like ever! You should take advantage of this time and get yourself a new friend"

"You're crazy, girl" Daryl drawled with a roll of his eyes, but I could see the beginnings of a smile working at the corners of their mouths.

"Crazy Daisy, that is me!" I giggled "now spill…were you and Merle close?"

"He raised me near enough, in his own way" Daryl admitted "dad wasn't worth a damn, momma not much better"

I nodded. I couldn't really imagine living with that kind of set up. Despite mom and dad having difficulties and arguments now and then, they had always put me and Carl first. It must have been so strange to have his brother bringing him up. Knowing what Merle was like to me suggested that this upbringing he gave him was a bit shoddy. But Daryl was a decent guy really, so I suppose Merle must not have done that bad a job.

"I don't need your pity, Daisy!" Daryl snapped as I sat quietly.

"I don't pity you Daryl…jeez!"

We were quiet again as we both panned the area, I couldn't see any walkers, that was always a good thing.

"Merle is an asshole…but he's my brother" Daryl defended.

"True, Merle is definitely an asshole" I laughed "but I can tell he loves you"

"Humph" Daryl grunted.


End file.
